Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things
by Unyielding Wish
Summary: A run-through of Rin and Len's lives. - -RinLen, GumiLen, RinxOliver, MikuLen, and some other stuff; more girly stuff than manly stuff.[COMPLETE]
1. Eight Years Old: Prologue

**I don't know, as an anniversary of the day of my first period? I felt in the mood to write this, so yeah.  
**

**Needless to say- 3 stories, including this one, I'm juggling around. Updates may be slower as _Lemon and Strawberry Cake_ is my top priority. And also, another RinLen story coming along. **

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_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Eight Years Old: Prologue_

A blond boy runs down a well-trodden path, bearing two cones of ice cream. One is banana, his favorite, and the other is orange sherbet, which is what his sister requested every time when she went to the ice cream parlor. This time, though, she is staying home to finish something up, and she sent her brother to get the ice cream for her.

The boy licks his lips as he thinks how savory his ice cream would be when he could lick it. He hungrily turns to take it in: the smooth surface, with chunks of banana poking out, streaked with white vanilla. He can barely wait until he gets to eat it.

He is so caught up in his thoughts that he doesn't notice a rock in front of him; when he does, it's too late and he trips. He manages to save his own banana ice cream, but his sister's orange sherbet is a mess at his feet. Dismayed, the boy wonders how to confront her when he gets home.

The boy takes a deep breath, picks up the ruined ice cream cone, and slowly walks home.

~.~^.~

"Len, look what I found on Mommy's desk—" a blond girl pipes up excitedly when he enters the door, but stops short when she sees only one ice cream cone in his hands. "What happened to the other one?"

The boy, named Len, looks down at his feet. "I'm sorry…"

Rin frowns at him. "What have you done?"

"It's—" Len's not sure how to answer her, but he tries anyway. "I tripped, and then it got ruined, so I threw it away in a trash can nearby…"

Rin's squinting at him only makes him feel worse, and even smaller.

"Well," she says finally, "I guess it doesn't matter that much…" That surprises Len. He looks up at his sister, and she smiles. Rin's throat is parched, and her lips are in desperate need of soothing from ice cream, but she doesn't care for the fact that she has found a much more interesting prize. "I was exploring earlier for a dictionary, and you guess what I found on Mommy's desk?"

"What?" Len asks, his interest piqued.

Rin grins. She reaches into her back pocket and pulls out a slip. "It says, 'You, Your Body', and something called 'Puberty'. And it has a ton of interesting drawings on it, but I'm not sure what they are."

Len takes a closer look at this brochure. He opens it, and a bunch of colorful pictures and unique fonts fly into his eyesight. He begins to read, but he doesn't know half of the words on there. Not letting that get him down, Len struggles his way through, tripping over words like "semen", "uterus", "adrenal", and "ducts". Finally he gives up at the last line of the first paragraph.

"I don't get this," he says, perplexed.

Rin shakes her head. "Me neither. But maybe Mommy can explain."

Len cocks a golden eyebrow. "And you are sure that Mommy _will_ explain? It _is_ her private things, after all."

"Tch," Rin snorts. "What's there to learn about this thing called a 'penis'?"

"Good idea," agrees Len. "When Mommy comes home, let's go ask her."

~.~^.~

"I'm not…it's just…" Mrs. Kagamine throws up her arms in defeat. After Rin had shown her the brochure, she didn't know _what_ to think. Perhaps her children are more skilled at finding things than she thought they were capable of. But she swears to herself that she will not let anything get into their hands for the next ten years or so.

"Mommy, what _is_ it?" Rin asks, pouting.

Mrs. Kagamine can tell that Rin is not going to give up until a decent explanation is aimed her way. With a sigh, she sits down with a pencil and paper, and explains the least she could.

~.~^.~

That night, Mrs. Kagamine writes in her "Puberty" journal—

_Rin and Len's first brush with all that inappropriate stuff:__  
_

_Age eight, with my brochure.  
_

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**Don't worry, there's more to come. I just don't feel like working on it this moment. So short, isn't it? Anyway, I'd like it if you review~ And say "happy puberty anniversary" while you review. XD Just kidding.  
**

**Say whatever you want.  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	2. Ten Years Old: Sex Ed

**Thanks for the marvelous reviews, everyone~! I really appreciate it. Next chapter! (After I saw how un-updated my story was getting. TT^TT)  
**

**Thanks to the following reviewers (updated 8/5/2012)- Ten-Faced, RinLenLOVE4427, Dale Z. Larmint, xSnowflakesx, and Nicole.  
**

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_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Ten Years Old: Sex Ed_

"Rin!" A girl with long blond hair with bangs held from her face by a black rose clip runs excitedly up to the other blond. "Did you hear?" she squeals.

With long blond hair, large rabbit ears, an orange turtleneck tank top paired with a pink skirt, and long black socks, Luna Amane is one of the prettiest girls in the grade. She's is one of Rin's friends, but she gets energized too quickly. Rin supposes that it's another batch of fresh gossip, hot off the glossed lips of a popular girl such as Hatsune Miku or Iana*. With a wave of her hand, Rin brushes her off.

Luna's eyes widen and she bites her lip. "But it's not as you think!"

"All gossip, I don't care for," Rin says dismissively.

"It's not gossip," Luna insists. "It's news."

Rin rolls her eyes. "Luna, did I ever tell you that gossip is generally 'news'?"

A pout mars Luna's pretty features. "It was a note from the teacher. It was posted on the bulletin board. It said, 'Sexual Education—Sign Up Forms Below'. I just thought it was interesting…"

Rin's eyes open wide. Luna grins, glad that she has attracted her friend's attention. She elaborates, "And then there were many people clustered around. I don't know why, but it looks interesting. I want to go. Do you want to come with me to pick up a slip or anything? And bring your brother along."

Rin knows all about Sex Ed as her mother had explained it to her two years ago, when she and Len first asked her about the brochure. It's nothing new to her, but she wants to know Len's reaction. She nods and runs off to get Len.

~.~^.~

"I still don't get why you had to make _me_ sign up for the Sex Ed too," Len complains on their bike ride home.

Rin pedals quickly. She wants to show it to her mother. Upon hearing Len's comment, she slams her feet on the brakes, and looks past. Len, startled by this, also stops and cocks his head to one side.

"It'll be fun," Rin finally says, not sure of what other comment to make of it.

Len nods, but unconvincingly. "Yes…" he finally says, as if trying to convince himself of something. "It will."

~.~^.~

Rin buries her head in her arms. The information the teacher is telling them is nothing short of boring, and even worse everyone is getting all giggly. They're acting as if a boy was in the room, which there's not. In fact, all of the boys—except for the teacher—have been evacuated because of this occasion. Luna, who is sitting next to her, is now involved in a huge giggling contest with Teto, and Luna seems to be winning.

"Rin," says the teacher. Rin looks up, and the teacher points, with his pointer, a totally obvious drawing of a breast and the milk ducts in the breast. "What is this?"

"A boob," Rin says calmly, and the girls titter.

The teacher's eyebrow twitches. "Yes," he says impatiently, "but I'm pointing to…_that_."

"That's what you call a milk duck."

"_Duct_," he corrects, seemingly pleased with himself that he knows this piece of petty information. "So, when you develop breasts, you are actually developing milk _ducts_. A 'nipple' is a tiny pinhole that lets the milk your milk ducts create outside. Usually this only happens to women—producing milk, that is—but it sometimes happens to men too. That's called 'galactorrhea'. When a baby sucks on your nipple, it stimulates action inside the breast, and milk flows out." The class laughs.

"Laugh now," the teacher says, still enjoying himself, "but you won't be laughing later when you have a baby. Having a baby is a lot of work, you know."

"Speaking of having a baby—" Miki speaks up. "Mr. Hiyama, is Yuki your baby?"

The class immediately silences, wondering what the teacher would say. The teacher's face is purpling, Rin notices in amusement.

"I—I," Mr. Hiyama stutters, "I know of no such thing…"

"I heard…" Miku jumps in, not wanting to be left out. "I heard that the middle school's math teacher Meiko Sakine is having sex with you every night! Is that true? If it is, can you talk about it?" She covers her mouth to stifle a giggle, then continues, "It'll give us good experience of sex when we really do it~!"

Just then, the bell rings. It's a signal for lunch, and immediately Rin's eyes are drawn to her lunchbag in the corner. _I wonder what she's packed for me today…_

Mr. Hiyama is just as relieved to hear the bell. "Class dismissed," he shouts with a wave of his hand, glad to not having the chance to confirm the fact of his stealing Miss Sakine's innocence and virginity by doing this act.

Nonetheless, the students are now educated with sex.

~.~^.~

Mrs. Kagamine rubs her temples, regretting her husband's decision to _ever_ let them join Sex Ed. She flips open her journal, and writes:

_Second brush with inappropriate stuff:_

_Age 10, with teacher Kiyoteru Hiyama. I do __not__ think highly of him.  
_

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*** = Iana is a reference from my story _Lemon and Strawberry Cake_. It's my deprivation of IA. My stories aren't really connected; so IA is Iroha's mother in _Lemon and Strawberry Cake_, but she's the same age as Rin in this one.**

**Hope you enjoyed~! Click that "review" button below. :3  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	3. Twelve Years Old: First Bra

**Sorry for not updating again... -.- Here I present to you the third** **chapter~!**

**Thanks to the following reviewers (updated 8/5/2012)- xSnowflakesx and Ten-Faced.  
**

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_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Twelve Years Old: First Bra_

Rin is almost surprised at herself as Hatsune Miku joins her at the bus stop, grinning at her, a brown messenger bag in hand. The two years since her Sex Ed class had passed by quite quickly, and happily too. Rin still has to get used to the fact that Luna is now best friends with Iana, and Miku is one of her closest friends now.

It's a chilly January day. Miku grimaces as she tugs a mud-plastered boot out of the dirt.

"New Year's Day was great," she says, desperate to make some conversation. Rin nods in agreement and smiles, thinking about the day that occurred just six days ago, in which a new year began. "And it's also the time I got a—…Rin, are you listening?" Miku asks, waving a hand in front of Rin's face. Rin is lost in thought, but she catches Miku's question and distractedly smiles and gestures for Miku to go on.

"No way." Miku folds her arms across her chest, tugging at a strap of white material that hangs from her shoulders. "Not until you give me your undivided attention."

"Fine, I'm listening." Rin looks at Miku, who is still snapping the strap back and forth.

"You better be, because…"

Rin is getting a bit squirmy. "Because…?" she repeats.

"I GOT A BRA!" Miku says, and before Rin can intercept, she hurriedly continues, "So this is what happened. Like on January 3rd, I noticed that my boobs were jiggling back and forth and feeling a bit strange…" She covers her mouth and giggles girlishly before continuing. "I called for my mom, who took me to Macy's, and we got some training bras. They're nothing great, though." Miku shows Rin the strap. "See? I tried to make this look as natural as I could…" She's wearing a shoulder-less gray sweater that covers all but the tip of her fingers. The clipping straps of the bra could be seen clearly, but yet easily mistaken as an undershirt, as Rin had done.

"…Doesn't it hurt?" is the only thing Rin could manage.

Miku shakes her head. "That's because the awesome Macy's employee—Ms. Akita Neru—gave me the teen bras that fitted me! Okay, she was like a bit grouchy because she was interrupted her phone session, but _whatever_~!"

Rin sweatdrops. She doesn't know if _she_ would be as happy to get a bra, but Miku certainly is. As the two teenagers board the bus, Rin wonders what it feels like to be stuck with such a thing for the rest of her life.

_Well, certainly I don't have to do it anytime soon…right?_

~.~^.~

A beautiful Thursday afternoon in April. It's the typical April Thursday, actually. Birds twitter and chirp, the boughs on the apple tree outside the window wave in the slight wind, and the sun shines down in the sharp blue sky. There is still some snow left on the ground, the powdery, icy, hard-to-melt type.

It's this day that…

"HOLY SHIT! I NEED A BRA!"

And thus, Miku is promptly called over to help Rin choose the right bra at the right Macy's department store.

~.~^.~

"See? It isn't that bad, is it?" Miku asks brightly as Rin grimaces, pulling at her bra straps. It's early Friday morning, and they're at the same bus stop.

"I feel so conspicuous," Rin mutters to her.

"Oh, don't be silly!" Miku claps Rin on the back. Then she giggles again. "Here comes Len…" And certainly, Rin's brother is heading toward them, doing all he could to not look at…at the little bumps on Rin's shoulder that signifies the bra straps.

~.~^.~

Mrs. Kagamine sighs and rubs her temples. Her children are growing up so fast; they were getting exposed to the bad stuff _all too early._ She writes in her journal:

_Rin gets her first bra today. She and her friend is very happy;  
_

_I'm not.  
_

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**So how did you like it? ^^ Again, sorry for not updating.**

**I get the fact that many giggly people will find this gross. I hope you didn't; I'm not a pervert, I'm a girl, so I can write about this stuff. XD LOL.  
**

**This is sort of RinMiku, instead of RinLen. Well, I added Len in the middle somewhere. XD Next chapter will have much more Len in it...Promise. :3  
**

**Review please!  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	4. Almost Thirteen: Down THERE and up HERE

**VOTE ON MY POLL PEOPLES! It has a LOT of contribution to how this story will go. So vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. I NEED TO GET AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. The deadline is whenever my reviews say so. Yeah, I'm letting you choose the deadline. ^w^  
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**Thanks to the following reviewers (updated 8/5/2012): Ten-Faced, RinLenLOVE4427, xSnowflakesx, Dale Z. Larmint, FruitPudding, Aomori Miki, and Rising Sparks.  
**

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_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Twelve and a Half: Down THERE and up HERE_

There's a tray upstairs in the bathroom cabinet, the bathroom that faces the sunrise and has a shower, so while one is scrubbing oneself in the morning they could enjoy the view. As a young girl, Rin had often been brought up by Mrs. Kagamine for a shower. While she would dry off, Rin's curious eyes would always wander to what the bathroom cabinet would hold—the cabinet above the toilet, which is to the right of the shower. Sometimes Mrs. Kagamine would open it, but she always forbade Rin from looking as she…did _something_ with her arms.

Rin finds herself in the same bathroom, showering alone. Her sky blue eyes linger on the cabinet; _never mind, it's Mom's privacy_; but still, just a little peek wouldn't hurt, would it? After all, she was—what, twelve?—yes, twelve. An obstinate preteen, who would turn thirteen on December 27, but is currently twelve and a half in June.

_Mom won't be mad,_ Rin decides to herself as she wraps herself in a towel. It's a quiet Saturday. As she glances out of the bathroom window, she is greeted with a bright sun, shining in a blue soft as a baby's blanket. There is a pine tree in the backyard growing directly outside of the window, and she could see some of its green branches pressed against the windowpane as if it were a stalker. _What a change it is from that bleak January day,_ Rin reflects, thinking about Miku showing off her new bra. And indeed, two months since she'd first acquired a bra. Rin pulls the material over her head, making sure it fits.

Alright, maybe she _is_ a bit naïve, but a little peek…

Rin glances around, hoping that nobody would be there to witness her opening the cabinet. After assuring herself that there is no one, she tugs open the wood…

_…_

A tray. That, and one of those…It's a pink tool, bent on one end, with a sharp razor at its end. Among a bunch of napkins. And shaving cream, too.

Rin quickly snaps shut the cabinet, blushing as if she'd discovered something forbidden. Of course her mother would have armpit hair. It's just a normal part of puberty, after all. And of course, her mother would have to use shaving cream, especially on her legs…And what of… She finds herself looking down, at the place where the cervix is located.

_Rin Kagamine, you have turned into one big pervert._

Or pervertess.

Whatever.

The thing is, Rin realizes, she'd have to use one of those someday. And she is definitely not looking forward to it.

~.~^.~

"Armpit hair?" Miku giggles loudly on the phone. Rin flushes, even though she knows Miku can't see her. She had just gotten out of the _shower,_ dammit, and dressed. Rin is not in a mood to mess around about giggly stuff. She quickly runs a comb her hair through her still-damp hair, and throws the comb onto her bed.

Of course, Rin might break it when she decides to plop randomly atop the bed, but who cares. It's one of those dispensable combs, anyway.

"Yes, armpit hair," Rin sighs. She's wearing a baggy gray sweater that is one of those produced by colleges—it's Rinto's college, in fact, and gray sweatpants. Needless to say, she's really hot, but since she'd just gotten out of the shower, it doesn't matter.

Just then, Len comes along. He sees Rin, and he stares at her in disbelief.

"Aren't you hot?" he asks, yanking the sweater off of her without asking. Rin blushes and goosebumps ripple up onto her arms as a sudden cold breeze overcomes her; she only has a tank top and her bra under that.

"Oh," Len says softly, blushing and dropping the sweater. He hands it to her. "Here."

"Is that Len?" Miku asks intently, hearing great as ever. Rin rolls her eyes and hands the phone to Len; Miku has been a Len fan for as long as she could remember. Len frantically waves his arms, shaking his head and backing away. He's making desperate gestures with his arms, and lifting them off from his sides. It is then that…

"Len, you have armpit hair already?"

~.~^.~

"How can I _ever_ go back to school now?" Len groans. He's lying on the bed; Rin has finished her call to Miku. Rin grins sheepishly.

"You can't. It's summer break already."

Len frowns. "Yeah, and Rinto's coming home soon. But my mojo is ruined…that girl is probably going to tell everyone in the school that I have armpit hair. But hey, I'm a real man now."

"Armpit hair means you're a real man?" Rin asks innocently, and is promptly whacked with a pillow.

"Shut up!"

~.~^.~

If Rin had known how quickly she'd get it too, she probably wouldn't have said that to Len. Rin gripes to herself as she, armed with one of those razors, shaves away at the hair in her armpits, Mrs. Kagamine watching her intently. The overprotective mother does _not_ want Rin to hurt her delicate skin in any way. (Okay, maybe it's not delicate skin, because no part of Rin is really delicate—reserve that for Len—but still. If Rin is going to be a girl, at least be a loli, like how Len is so shota-ish.)

"At this rate," Mrs. Kagamine says, "you're going to get pubic hair too."

"WHAAAAAAT?"

~.~^.~

Surely enough, just a month later, Mrs. Kagamine has to write two entries in her logbook. She had delayed long enough for Rin's armpit hair, but _this…_this stupid _puberty_ and _pubic hair_…and how Rin would be able to get a _baby_ soon if she isn't _careful _enough…

_Rin got armpit hair a month earlier._

_She has pubic hair now, too._

_I wish I have something to stop her development. I still want that cute, cuddly little girl, not this saucy teenager. ^*$! hormones._

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**So I did get descriptive, after all... XD I'm glad it brought back so many memories so far. Aww, you should cherish them. They should go into your autobiography or something. XD (If you plan to write one.)**

**REVIEW. If you're too lazy to go to my profile, then REVIEW your preferences. I would check the reviews, anyway.  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	5. Thirteen Years Old: Period – Pad

**VOTE ON MY POLL. **

**Next chapter~! I get motivated by stories that have a lot of reviews. XD  
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**Thanks to the following reviewers- Ten-Faced, Aomori Miki, rockitty99, Pupfg012, RinLenLOVE4427, StrawberrySpark, and xSnowflakesx. This time I've ranked it from recent to least recent, so yeah. But fellow readers, check these people out.  
**

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_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Thirteen Years Old: Period – Pad_

Rin feels really, really uncomfortable.

Her stomach feels like it's being pumped out; it sends violent spasms all over.

She wants to puke, but it's only because…

_Shit, I need to go potty._

~.~^.~

It feels much better to release biosolids into the toilet. Rin breathes a sigh of relief as the weird pain from her abdomen disappears. _Stupid diarrhea…_ She stands up and wipes awkwardly. Pubic hair is really hard to deal with when it comes to pooping.

As she looks at the toilet paper to see if her rear is clean, she suddenly sees a strange auburn spot on her underwear.

_Funny, it wasn't there before._

Rin wants to kick herself because of her inexpert handling of excrement.

~.~^.~

First thing in the morning, Rin would swim. Then right after swimming, she would hurry to the dressing room and shower and change. As she pulls up her underwear, she looks down on it. The brown spots?

_Didn't I change underwear this morning or something?_

The spots appear to have changed shape. Or something. Rin can't remember the exact pattern of the spots from the night before._Oh, don't tell me I'm getting haunted by ghosts. But my underwear, really?_ Rin snickers into her hand. Whoever's doing the haunting, they must be either perverted or just plain crazy. Whatever. Once she gets home, she's going to change it again.

~.~^.~

_There…better._

Fresh underwear always feels better than the soiled one.

Rin happens to look down to her underwear to make sure there aren't any brown spots.

There isn't, but…

Fresh red blood is dripping out of her backside.

~.~^.~

"How could this happen?" Rin bemoans to Len, who's the only one nearby. Len is quite uncomfortable, yes; you could see him looking awkwardly away from her. "I mean, I know I'm fortunate to get my period on a Sunday, but…This sucks so badly…How could this happen to me when _Miku isn't even done developing her pubic hair yet_?"

"She was, er, the first to get a bra," Len points out.

"Yeah, but I'm the first to get everything else," Rin sniffs into a tissue. "I feel terrible for myself…"

Len sighs and pats Rin on the back, accidentally feeling the ridges of her bra. He quickly jerks his hand away. "Did I ever tell you before, Rin, that I got my wet dream a few nights before?" Catching the surprised look on her face, he guessed that she didn't know. "Well, I did, and then Mom made a big fuss…"

"Why didn't you share that with me?"

"Well, it's because…" Len confides, "It's because I thought you'd laugh…"

"You sound like such a grown-up, Len." Rin has gotten over her sadness about her period. "Anyway, Mom's home now," hearing the slam of the door and her mother's excited voice. "I'm going to ask her for toiletries…"

~.~^.~

"It feels…awkward," Rin groans, trying to walk in her pad. Unlike most of the stories she'd read, it doesn't feel like a diaper—not quite—but it does tickle. She tries to walk a few steps, but it tickles more. She giggles slightly out of the strangeness of it all. "This feels _too weird._"

"Keep it between your legs to soften it," explains Mrs. Kagamine. "Then you can use a tampon, like me…"

"Er, okay."

~.~^.~

"Why does Rin have everything happen to herself?" Mrs. Kagamine despairs as she writes another journal entry.

_Rin gets her first period today._

_I made her wear a pad.  
_

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**Again, VOTE ON MY POLL! For those of you who haven't.  
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**Whoa, short chapter. Sorry peoples...Next chapter will still concern on her period. R & R~  
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**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	6. Almost Fourteen: Period – Tampon, Yoga

**Again, vote on my poll if you haven't already! Gumi is leading so far- ah, it's a wonderful cat's life! :) Then comes Miki, and Mayu, Yuzuki Yukari, Miku, and Iroha are tied. **

**Thanks to the following reviewers- Guest, Ten-Faced, xSnowflakesx, RinLenLOVE4427, and Aomori Miki! You guys are great! «3  
**

**I admit that this chapter wasn't as great as I could have made it, but... -.- It's kind of hard for me to write about the feel of tampons. Usually, there aren't any, and I didn't have any tampon incidents (Yeah, I'm so lucky! XD). So I gathered up information from other stories about a girl growing up (both on here and in my collection of books which numbers to 1000000000000000000000000000 ) and I came up with this. Hope you enjoy!  
**

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_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Almost Fourteen: Period – Tampon; Yoga_

Rin rummages through the drawers for her pad. Surely they haven't run out, right? _No, I don't want to go pad-shopping in public, Mom._ She crosses her fingers, hoping not. As she goes through each bathroom drawer, her eye suddenly catches on a green package labeled "TAMPONS".

She's seen her mom use that a bunch of times, but she never did it herself.

Rin is almost tempted to take it out. And she does, feeling the crisp paper between her fingertips.

_I wonder what it'd be like to put it on… _

Rin has a sudden vision of the tampon slipping out of her backside.

No, that's not okay.

She checks the drawers again. "Please, please, _please_…it had better…" But there aren't any pads. Rin groans, and slaps her forehead, disappointed.

It's her time of the month, and she's not about to go around every day with a soiled underwear.

Nonetheless, she finds her eye on the tampon package in her hand.

~.~^.~

"I put it on right…well, I should have…" Rin mumbles as she sticks the tampon up her vagina. It tickles, slightly, and Rin hopes that it's not being crumpled up there. Rin frowns skeptically and looks back at the instructions in her hand; is she doing it right?

_Product flammable,_ it says.

…Crap.

Rin could only hope that she doesn't leap back and forth with her butt on fire anytime soon.

~.~^.~

"There aren't any pads left?" Len repeats.

"No, there aren't!" Rin snaps, and throws up her arms, then quickly pins them back to her sides as she remembers she hasn't shaved her armpits yet. "And _why isn't Mom back yet_?"

Len is quite alarmed at his twin's temper. "Calm down, Rin…"

"I CAN'T CALM DOWN! First of all, I had to put on a _tampon_, and who knows what it'll do inside my butt! And then it said that tampons were flammable! Honestly, when I think back on it, the men got the better side of the deal! _We_ have to house the baby, _we_ feel the pain when you…uh…do something to our butts, _we_ have to wait for a certain time of the stupid month…And seriously, I'm overusing the word 'butt'…"

"Er, it's actually anus," Len offers. "I learned it in history—"

"I don't _care_ what it's called! All I know is that pads and periods are stupid!"

Len takes a deep breath, and takes a seat on the carpeted floor. "Rin, let's do yoga. First of all, let's meditate." He closes his eyes peacefully.

Rin stares at her shota brother. "Yoga?"

Len grins lopsidedly, opening his eyes. "It's the only thing I can think of that makes you quiet down so far." He pats the spot beside her. "Come on, Rin. First, you inhale deeply. Then, you close your eyes. And then, you peer into the depths of your mind, and you just think. Then—"

"What the heck, where did you learn this?"

"Yoga?" Len asks absentmindedly, his eyes closed again. "Oh, our biology teacher taught us that, because he said that it was good when you just get your wet dream."

"…"

"…Don't look at me like that."

"How do you know I'm looking at you?"

"I'm psychic."

"LIAR!" Rin accuses Len, pouncing on him. "Your eyes were open! I could see…" She blushes when she realizes that she's this close to her brother. _Were his eyes that piercing blue the last time I stared straight into them?_

Len coughs, and Rin quickly clambers off. "Anyway, on with the yoga lesson."

~.~^.~

"Those were the most peaceful moments…of my life…" Rin says dreamily as she and Len walks through the mall. They're shopping for pads (well, Rin is; Len's going over to the arcade to play), because Mrs. Kagamine wanted to. Rin still has the tampon, though.

Len grins. "I told you it'd be great."

"Yeah, it is." The twins fall silent as Mrs. Kagamine hurries to Macy's.

"Do I have to?" Rin whines as her mother pulls her along.

"Soon, you're going to be shopping by yourself, and it'd be best for you to know where to go," Mrs. Kagamine advises her, smiling to herself as Rin's face breaks into a pout.

~.~^.~

In the middle of the pad section, Rin feels a trickle start up in her _anus_.

_Oh, no. No, no, no, no._

She put the tampon wrong.

"BATHROOM!" Rin hollers, and hurries over to the door marked "Women", leaving Mrs. Kagamine staring after her. Mrs. Kagamine shrugs and loads some pads into her shopping cart.

~.~^.~

Rin crumples up her tampon and throws it into the little metal box on the right wall of her stall. She glances at the tampon; yes, there is some blood on it. She looks down at her underwear; no, not so much, but a few drops or two. Rin grimaces as the metal box snaps shut with a _clang_. Demure much?

She pulls up her pants and quickly goes to catch up with her mother.

~.~^.~

Mrs. Kagamine frowns, back at her desk. Why was Rin so adventurous? Why couldn't she have…just stuck some tissues into her underwear? Now the world of tampons is shaping for Rin…she sighs, and records in her journal:

_Rin got her first try at a tampon today._

_Not happy. Not happy at all.  
_

* * *

**Longest chapter so far! I think the next one...Yup, the next one, it'll center more on Len. LENNY FANS GATHER HERE! :D No, I'm not writing about his puberty; I do pose a challenge to the guy readers here. (If there are any, which I highly doubt.) I DARE YOU TO DOCUMENT YOUR PUBERTY EXPERIENCES THROUGH LEN!**

**A lot of the happenings here are based on me, as well. Except I discovered about puberty in a medical book. At first, I didn't even know that it was about puberty...I just saw a bunch of naked people. XD  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	7. Fourteen Years Old: Len's Girlfriend – 1

**Gumi wins the contest! Miki comes second; then Mayu and Miku are tied; and finally Lily, Yuzuki Yukari, and Iroha are also tied.**

**Thanks to these reviewers- Forever Lazy, Starfish, Guest, xSnowflakesx, RinLenLOVE4427, FluttershyParty, Kitty, and Aomori Miki! I still love all of ya who read this. :D  
**

**In any case, this thing will be continued. So the next chapter, and maybe the next, will center on Len as well- as much chapters as it takes for me to make Len admit that he loves Gumi. So this is like a special treat. :DDDDDDDDD  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Fourteen Years Old: Len's Girlfriend – One_

"…"

A silence, thick as pea soup, looms over Len and Rin as they stand in the Kagamines' bathroom. Rin has made Len face her straight on; "Like a man," she'd fondly said earlier, and their noses are almost touching in the small space in front of the sink. Finally Rin plops down on the toilet (with a closed lid, mind), leaving Len staring at himself in the mirror before turning to look at her again. Her arms are crossed expectantly across her chest, and a smug smile is spread across her face.

"You have a sweetheart, don't you?" Rin asks triumphantly.

Len loves his sister. He really does, but in things like this…Len picks at a fraying hem on the bottom of his T-shirt. "Why do you want to know?" he mumbles.

"So you do!"

"I don't!"

"Ah-ah, mister, I have proof right here!" Rin digs around in her back pocket. Len sweatdrops as she pulls out an unopened package for a pad, a crumpled piece of candy wrapper, a pencil, protractor, ruler, wadded-up tissue, mini binoculars that barely work (Rin had explained that it made her feel official), and a notepad. _How does her pocket not burst from all that stuff?_ Len wonders as Rin finally finds what she's been looking for, and pushes all of the rest of the pocket junk off the toilet seat. She shows Len a videotaping camera.

It's bright orange with a sticker of an orange on it. Len immediately recognizes it as the present their mother gave Rin on their birthday, the twenty-seventh of December. He had gotten a pair of headphones, at his request, to sing karaoke, but this…Yes, it is one of the cheap ones you could buy straight off a sidewalk shop.

"You actually got it to work?" Len asks in disbelief. Rin frowns at him and pulls out a pair of fake glasses, pushing it up the bridge of her nose.

"Miku helped me," she says, and Len has to cringe at his ever-energetic fangirl.

"In any way…" Rin pushes the too-big glasses up the bridge of her nose again, but they keep sliding down. In defeat she sets it down on the floor, and presses buttons vigorously on the videotaping camera. After several bewildering beeps, Rin holds up the camera to Len and he watches in horror as a filmed scene unfolds before him.

"_Len…uh, can you show me where the bathroom is?" _

Rin's grip on the camera had been unsteady, and the things that are being displayed on the screen shake and wobble, and Rin's high-pitched giggle drifts out somewhere.

_Len raised an eyebrow. "Yes, but why?"_

_The girl smiled. She had smooth grass-green hair that brushed her shoulders. "Well…I am new here, so…" Her sentence fell from her lips, unfinished, as she gazed beseechingly into his eyes. "Luo Tianyi told me to get you. She is also a transfer student, if you do not remember…from China, you know?"_

Len remembers how he had recalled the teacher introducing the transfer students one by one. They came from different countries or provinces, and that greennette had been from a country northwest of Japan—Russia? He does remember her and Luo Tianyi being among the bunch…and then there was…Seiyu*****? The girl from Korea…He drives his gaze back to the camera.

"_Certainly," _video-Len is now saying. _"Um, it's up the steps to the auditorium, and when you see the huge door you just turn right, and there should be a metal door that says 'Girls' on it."_

_The girl's face broke into a grin. "Thank you~!" She kissed him on the cheek and rushed away._

_Len was standing there, dumbstruck. _

Len watches, embarrassed now, as his video self's mouth moves to the words that could only be "I didn't even catch her name."

The video Rin filmed is shaking at this point, because Len remembers that that was the time when Rin stepped out of nowhere—to him—and told him in a too-casual voice, that was too high-pitched, that they should be going home. His face flushes, and Rin grins.

"Well~?" she coaxes him. "Her name?"

"I don't know it," Len mumbles, hiding his face in shame. It's true. He doesn't.

Rin scruntinizes him for a moment, before snorting. "Ach! A boyfriend who doesn't know his girl's name? That's got to be the first I've ever heard of…" She pats a mortified Len's arm. "It's alright, Len. This time, I'll tell you her name, and you'll get off scot-free. It's Gumi, if you were paying attention."

A lightbulb clicks in Len's head. That's right. The green-haired girl, who was smiling awkwardly in front of the room, had introduced herself as…Gumi Megpoika?

"Or maybe your mind was obsessing over her too much to remember her name." Rin looks thoughtful, and Len could see that she's not teasing him; she's simply thinking out loud. _What? My sister thinking that I'm in love? No, that's not… _Len backs up against the bathroom wall, waving his arms frantically.

"That's…That's not right," he says, panicking for a good word to say. "I just…" Len forces a laugh out of his throat. "Well, I wasn't paying attention…" This is hard to admit for him, because he's a straight-A student, but to get Rin off his back is one of the things Len has trouble with—she's doggedly persistent. Rin, on cue, raises an eyebrow and punches a few more buttons on her camera, her fingers flying over the keys. Soon, he hears Gumi's request for the bathroom again.

"You just _said_ I wasn't paying attention, and now you're contradicting yourself," Len says weakly.

Rin thinks for a moment. "Well, I changed my mind." She pounds out the code for "replay" over and over again, for what it seems to Len, and before he could say anything else, Mr. Kagamine's voice booms out from outside the bathroom door.

"Done with the bathroom yet, eh?"

"Right out," Len says quickly, and opens the door, nearly hitting his father in the face. Shame-faced, Len runs down to get his bike helmet on. He needs some time to himself.

~.~^.~

In no time Len Kagamine finds himself zooming down the hill. For a moment he thinks about letting go of the handles and just letting the bike do its work, but then he remembers that Mrs. Kagamine told them that they might break a hip that way—it _had_ been directed mostly at Rin—so Len keeps a firm grip on the bars, no matter how hard his brain protests. Len lets out a low-pitched whoop as the bike crusades down the hill, then climbs up another hill again—_this neighborhood really is a hilly place, hm? _It's like a rollercoaster, except more thrilling.

Suddenly a huge building looms over Len, and in shock he slams his foot on the brakes.

The sign reads _Megpoikas' Bakery_******. Len guesses it's new, because he could still smell the paint's sharp scent, and the wet walls still shine. Besides, Gumi is the new transfer student, and her last name is Megpoika, isn't it? It looks, though, that they're already done with setting up, as Len could see in the glass window that the tiles have already been laid, the glass cases set up, and they're busy setting out plates and plates of pastries and cakes in there. Len's mouth waters.

_Perhaps I have some money…_

He does, fishing out a crumpled dollar bill. Could he even buy anything with that? Len squares his shoulders and walks in.

~.~^.~

"Aaah, we have got a new customer already!" A man's voice with a clear Russian accent drifts out of the Employees' Room. Len wonders how he knows that he's in there, but then he sees a small window on the door of the room. A tall, well-built man walks in; he's quite plain, dressed in a crisp white collared shirt and worn jeans, but he has a friendly smile on his square-jawed face. Rather intimidating was his height, but… Len cowers slightly as the man leans over. "What can I do for you today?"

"Er…" Len can't get so much of a word out of his mouth; he's too creeped out by the grin on the man's face.

A lighter, but still deep, voice floats out from the door. "Mr. Megpoika, there were some problems with the—oh, hi." A purple-haired employee steps out of the room, wiping his hands on his apron. "I'm Gakupo."

"Len," Len says.

"Hi, Len," the owner butts in. "How may I help you?"

Before Len could say anything more, a pretty girl steps out from the shadows. Her eyes widen in surprise and delight when she sees Len there, trying to offer the owner the dollar bill but the owner refusing and saying something in Russian. "Len! It is Len, right?" she says brightly, hurrying over to him.

"Oh, uh, Gumi," Len says.

Gumi smiles when she hears her name, and clutches his elbow. "You even remembered my name?"

"Well…my sister…"

"Oh." Gumi frowns for a moment, then asks, "Her name is Rin, right?"

Len nods.

Gumi ponders the thought for a moment; _she's so childishly cute,_ Len thinks, but then banishes the thought quickly as a strange feeling starts creeping up his thigh. No, he is _not_ thinking about trying to get into Gumi's pants—or skirt, in this case, nonononono. "Rin is nice, I guess," Gumi says decisively, breaking Len out of his thoughts. "I met her when she was messing around with Miku in the lunchroom, and Luo Tianyi knows Miku, so we had an introduction there." Her Japanese has a little foreign twist to it.

"You already have a friend?" Mr. Megpoika exclaims. "How nice!"

"R–righ—well, she's not really—…" Len blushes, and Gakupo looks over at him in amusement.

Mr. Megpoika shoves a lemon-jelly doughnut into Len's hand, and grabs Len's free hand—the one that's holding the dollar bill—and makes Len's hand stuff the dollar bill into his back pocket. Then he grabs some kind of carrot pastry and gives that forcefully to Gumi, and makes a shooing motion with his hand. "Go, go! Off to the park, you children! HAVE FUN WITH MY DAUGHTER LEN, KUKUKUKUKUKUKU!"

…_Awkward._

Len and Gumi run toward the park unstoppably, as Len tows along his bike as well. He's mulling over his opinion of Mr. Megpoika when he unconsciously takes a bite of his doughnut.

It's good.

* * *

*** - My deprivation of SeeU. I hope I didn't use her in the story yet... ^^;**

**** - I take a lot of references from _Lemon and Strawberry Cake_. In that story, Gumi's much older, but it wouldn't do here, so I decided to make her entire family in charge of the bakery. And no, in this story, she's not in love with Gakupo. She's just a friend to him, he's just a friend to her. Yes, I do know that Gumi's real last name is Megpoid, but it sounds weird in the story, so I changed it to Megpoika. Aren't I brilliant? ;)  
**

**Read and review! I wuv you guys.  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	8. Fourteen Years Old: Len's Girlfriend – 2

**I have quite the plot for Len... :D So Gumi might not be his girlfriend throughout the entire story. SPICE! ;)  
**

**Thanks to the following reviewers; Shriekmon, guest who, PopRockPuppy23, Rizzo-P, rockitty99, RinLenLOVE4427, and Ten-Faced x2 cuz-she-reviewed-two-chapters-at-once-:D. I wuv you!  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Fourteen Years Old: Len's Girlfriend – Two_

A few weeks later Len finds himself totally enchanted with Gumi. Her actions, voice, insight…it's all so gracefully connected. He can't say that they're warming up to each other anymore, because they're not. Their friendship has evolved into something more passionate, intimate. Len hates to admit that Rin's right, but…

He has fallen in love.

It doesn't take an expert to realize that Gumi shares the same feelings, either. Miku has drifted away now, away from Rin, and back to Luna and Iana. She told Len that she didn't want anything to do with his girlfriend if it wasn't her. Rin had been hurt, but she healed after a few days. In fact, if Len recalls correctly, yesterday they had just covered "Chemical Emotion" together, in a karaoke night. It had been fun to sing along, but then he found out that Rin was recording the entire thing to post on her Twitter page, and thus Len became part of the chorus.

Of course, Rin teases him relentlessly. She can't help it; it's just too cute, his relationship with Gumi. Often she would sneak a photo of Len and Gumi together onto Twitter. Immediately, the fans she'd acquired from her duets with Gumi would respond and share the photo with their millions of friends. Len and Gumi's relationship soon became broadcasted far and wide, and they pretty much became celebrities too. _Rin loves paparazzi. _Len sighs just remembering.

Miku is really jealous at all this, but she keeps her distance. Once in a while she would offer Len an icy smile, but it can't conceal her hurt eyes. Just looking at him pains her badly, and she would turn away, her cyan eyes brimming with tears. Len's not that worried, though; Miku has Kaito under her thumb.

He just has to wonder how his prudish parents would accept it.

~.~^.~

"Mom," Len tries one day. "I need to tell…"

"Not yet, Len." Mrs. Kagamine speaks absently; apparently there's something on her mind. "Save it for dinner." But Len's dinner speech never does come; Mr. Kagamine spends the entire time talking about politics, and the twins nearly fall asleep during the lecture.

~.~^.~

There's another time when Rin decides to help Len negotiate, but that ended in failure too; Mr. Kagamine began scorning certain types of yuri right away. Like, WHAT THE HECK MAN? What did _yuri _have to do with Len's relationship? Nonetheless, he was talking about…stuff Len would rather not think about. Rin still laughs as she thinks back to that, affectionately calling their dad a "clueless bum".

~.~^.~

Finally, while Mrs. Kagamine is doing the laundry, Len decides he can't wait any longer. He squares his shoulders (like a man) and walks bravely toward the laundry room, but his knees wobble and every step he takes is a big difficulty.

"Mom," Len falters slightly. He coughs and revises himself. "I have to tell you something…"

Mrs. Kagamine's face is flushed and beaded with sweat as she dumps yet another binful of clothes into the washer. "Honestly, Len," she sighs, "can it not wait?" She presses a few buttons and the washer cranks to life. The clothes whirl around and around dizzily. Len keeps his eyes on a shirt that has a duck design on it; _it must be mine_, he thinks. The swirling movement of the duck shirt makes him dizzy too.

"It can't," he insists finally.

Mrs. Kagamine sighs again and rakes a strand of straw-yellow hair out of her eyes. "Speak, then."

Len bites his lip. _This was never going to be easy… _"I…have a girlfriend…"

"Right, I would guess, the old—…Whu—YOU WHAT NOW?"

~.~^.~

Mr. Kagamine lays his palms delicately on the tablecloth, smoothing out the wrinkles. He takes a deep breath and says in a low voice, "We need to talk this over, Len." He's so serious, that usually he would be famished and devour a bunch of drumsticks at once, but he hasn't even touched his food right now.

"I know that," says Len quickly. "Her name's Gumi, she's fluent in her languages, she's Russian…"

"I don't care."

"…"

"Of course Daddy doesn't…"

"You be quiet, Rin. Now, Len, this is serious. You may get syphilis, pubic lice, and other dangers through sex. You might get infected by germs while kissing. Like, you press your lips onto hers, and then POOF!" Mr. Kagamine waves his hands for dramatizing. "The next day you come down with a fever, and then the next and the next, you get worse, and your lips are deformed and swollen, and your face is deformed and swollen, and then no medicine will work, so Len, please—"

"I think you're scaring Len," Mrs. Kagamine says gently, looking at her son's horrified face.

Mr. Kagamine shrugs. "I'm just stating the facts. The thing is, Len, we're worried about you. If you contract a disease, it'll be too late. So reserve the sex and kissing scenes until you're twenty, Len, and—"

"No, thirty!" Mrs. Kagamine butts in.

Now, Mr. Kagamine is a man who likes challenge. His company is a pretty well-known one, dominating almost the entire world of technology, and he gets excited easily. So when Mrs. Kagamine says "thirty," immediately it's like a challenge for Mr. Kagamine. For him to overrule her. All he has to do is to push a mental button, and then they will be in their own civil wars. "Thirty-five!" he cries, and slams the table, as if he'd just laid down a bet.

"Forty!" Mrs. Kagamine protests, not one to be outdone.

"Forty-five!"

"Fifty!"

"Fifty-one!"

"Sixty!"

"Sixty-nine!"

"Seventy-one!"

"Eighty—"

"That's too old! That's too old!" Rin intercepts, bent over from laughing. Len just looks bewildered, and tears squeeze out of Rin's eyes as she claps her twin on the back. "What's he gonna do, have a frozen sperm? You don't want the Kagamine name to live on, Mom, Dad?"

"Of course we do!" Mr. Kagamine says quickly. "Who doesn't want a son? The thing is, Len, we don't want you to have sex too early…"

"But…but you're only forty-four, Dad," Rin points out. "You and Mom must've had sex at twenty or something…"

Mr. Kagamine flushes. "THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T HAVE SEX EARLY!" he roars, slamming the table, then turns redder and revises himself. "I–I mean, we're totally glad to have you, but it's just that if you're not ambitious like us you shouldn't get a baby that young during college, and BESIDES, LEN, I want you to GET A COLLEGE DEGREE!" He slaps his hand on Len's back, the exact place when Rin had placed hers. "DO EIGHT YEARS OF COLLEGE FOR DADDY AND MOMMY, 'KAY?"

"Oh, uh—"

"YOU WILL, RIGHT? You WILL?"

"I—"

"THAT'S MAH BOY!"

And thus, the dinner ends like that. It's not fruitless, though, because Len spies his mother in her room writing something…

~.~^.~

Mrs. Kagamine, unaware of Len spying, picks up her pen and writes something.

_So Len's got a girlfriend!_

_The next thing, he'll be asking for her hand…No, Len, I want you to stay __right here__.  
_

* * *

**Lol...gotta love the parents...**

**Anyway, THIS CONCLUDES THE LEN SCENE! Lenny fans might not see another one so centered on him for a few chapters or so, but Rin will have more interactions now that the worst of her puberty is over. Growing up, ne? But Len will have bouts of glory every so often, so NO WORRIES PEOPLE! XD I feel like being hyper. Cuz I am hyper. I win.  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	9. Fifteen Years Old: Luka and Gakupo?

**Thanks for the reviews, everyone! This chapter...well, I still wanted to do the growing up stuff. Remember, growing up isn't just about puberty!**

**Thanks to these people- RinLenLOVE4427, PopRockPuppy23, Ten-Faced, Dale Z. Larmint, rockitty99, and Skafe! Thank you thank you thank you! Now, let's pity Rin as we read this, shall we...? XD  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Fifteen Years Old: Luka and Gakupo…?_

The soles of Rin's worn shoes make a soft padding sound as she walks down the hallway. She's walking home after a usual day at high school—she'd put her hair in clips this morning, because her bangs have grown long. In fact, a few strands of her wheat-blonde hair are touching her chest now. Still, Rin likes it long; her opinion has been even stronger ever since Len got that damned _ridiculous_ haircut last Saturday.

She can still remember it. He uses platinum, thin clips to hold it back from his ears, unlike the flat silver ones Rin uses. The tips of his hair brush against his shoulders. It does make him look more mature, and maybe have more sex appeal, but…

God, Rin could _not_ imagine what motivated Len to get _piercings_ along with it too.

He had been hesitant to show them to her at first, but after Rin spied him hiding something with his hair, Rin had been adamant to know just what's under it.

She was awarded with the sight of multiple earrings.

"What the heck, Len," Rin gripes as she swerves sharply around a corner. The hair had been bad enough, but…this…this…Rin remembers that he had arrived back with a sleeveless white jacket of some kind and black exercising pants. How funny; she has never noticed those muscles before. They're slender, and sleek, and something that Miku would have squealed over for sure. When Rin was small, she had always thought of Len as somebody impressive, but now that they're practically fifteen now she's not quite sure what to think of him anymore.

What's more, Gumi and Len have ditched each other, and Gumi's attracted with some random guy that Rin doesn't know; he's Russian as well, as an excited Gumi had told her over the phone, so Rin supposes that it makes sense. Len and Gumi aren't that close anymore; when was the last karaoke night they'd had?

Len's simply bouncing around. Miku has gotten over her hatred of Gumi, seeing as she had moved off to someone else, and she's beginning to become all fangirlish over Len again. Her friendship with Rin isn't really healed, and some parts are still touchy and need mending, but that's close enough for Rin. Iana is smitten with Len too (ever since this week's Monday when Len had walked into school with his haircut), and Luna reveals that she's long been a fan of Len. Typical clichéd, stereotypical girls. Rin snorts. There's still…Rin counts on her fingers…about fifteen more that love Len—Miki, Teto, Ruko, Seiyu, Luo Tianyi, and much more girls which most of whom Rin doesn't even know.

_When did he become so popular? _

Rin mumbles parts of sentences, incoherent to even herself, as she walks toward the swinging double doors. She lays her hand on the smooth, cool metal. She has been careful in avoiding Len since Monday, but what lies ahead on her—er—journey back to home?

For a moment Rin considers just staying in here until she's come to agree with Len's hair and manner.

Suddenly there's a chilly hand on her shoulder, and Rin gives a start. It's an electric shock that courses through her entire body, and for a moment her back goes limp, but she straightens it just as quickly. Heart beating fast, Rin looks into the wintry aquamarine-blue eyes of the popular high school senior Luka Megurine.

"Excuse me," Luka-sempai says coolly. "You happened to be at the door, blocking the way, for too long…"

Rin's face colors. _Was I…did I take really that long? _"I—I'm really sorry," Rin says quickly and backs away. Isn't Luka Megurine the girl that had been the principal's personal protégé for the past two years? Isn't Luka Megurine the girl that ruthlessly dates boys, and yet the boys keep coming back to her? Isn't Luka Megurine…the person everybody wishes to be? As these thoughts whisper their way through Rin's mind, she presses her petite body against the wall. "Um…you can…"

Luka nods curtly and leaves quickly, the heels of her black high-heeled boots clipping on the ground until she disappears from view.

~.~^.~

Rin has always been a curious soul. Therefore, when Luka leaves so quickly, it must mean something, right? She scolds herself for this thought, and forces her body to move to her own house. All displeasing ideas about Len have evaporated by this point, and she doesn't know why she's been so hesitant the last few minutes to go to her house.

~.~^.~

Back at her house, though, Rin remembers the thing about Len.

_Quit chickening out, Rin. This is pathetic._

She finds her father and mother curled on the couch together with a bowl of buttery popcorn. They're watching an opera sung in some beautiful-sounding language, but it beats Rin of how they could understand the complicated twists and turns of the story. Her mother is crying right now at a particular scene, and her father is blowing into a handkerchief, which is already soaked.

"Where's Len?" Rin forces herself to ask.

Mrs. Kagamine looks up quickly and blushes, shutting down the TV. "I don't know, Rin," and her voice is edged with worry. "I guess he's _somewhere_ with that charming girl…was 'Iana'? Yes, that must be it. He told me in a text that he'd be at Megpoikas' Bakery…"

"Got it," Rin says quickly, and runs out again.

~.~^.~

Rin honestly doesn't know what sort of fix Len has gotten himself into. It might not even _be_ a big thing, but she doesn't like the idea of him staying alone with Iana. That girl is sly, and Rin is not about to let her brother be taken by a girl who doesn't know her morals. But Megpoikas' Bakery should be okay—then there's the thought to think about Mr. Megpoika. Len had told her some months before about his personality—would he even _encourage_ Iana to go out with Len?

Rin frowns as she locks her bicycle and walks toward the entrance. She hopes not.

Then there's a thumping sound that makes her blood run cold. She's not quite scared of it, it's just…Rin pauses and cocks her head, listening harder. The sounds seem to come from a center, a center of something, accompanied by soft moans and sucking sounds that could only mean lips pressed on flesh and letting go, not without a slight pinch. Rin freezes in terror, and her knees knock together as she hears more of these sounds. There's even something muttered in a man's deep voice, but she can't figure out what he's saying. That voice is definitely too deep for Len—yaoi?

Someone is doing it on _Len_?

And _Len_ is the uke?

Up to this point, Rin has always thought of Len as the seme-type. The type that was coolheaded but sexy. Now that she has witnessed that sort of personality up close, she doesn't know whether she should like it or not, whether to laugh or cry about it, but if _Len_ is the _uke_ there must be something wrong…It implants ideas in her head.

Rin fights back tears of fear as she makes her way through the bushes. It's on the left side of the bakery, and it's a dark evening. Cold and dark and forbidding. The moonlight makes frightening shadows.

"…You're such a stupid girl, Rin; you're not a five-year-old," she scolds herself. Rin tries to distract herself from the growing cold pit in her stomach. It's so cold. She wishes she has brought a sweater, but she came in her tank top. Her footsteps sound loud to her ears, and Rin's eyes scan the landscape for the thousandth time for something to throw or stab with. If a big thug is going to hurt her brother, she would not spare them any mercy.

Then she sees purple.

What?

Rin recalls Len describing a purplehead.

_~Flashback~_

"_He has a head of purple, but he's kind of nice, even though he's sort of aloof-ish," Len admitted as he took a sip of his milky tea._

"_Purple?" Rin repeated in disbelief. Other than Luka's pink hair, she had seen no such thing as purple hair. Len nodded and shrugged, taking some brioche from the plate in the center—baked by none other than himself. "But I can't imagine…"_

_Len laughed. "You've got to, Rin. Or else, life will be boring. Anyway, he's tall and slender, and kind of muscular, but not quite."_

_Rin pondered the thought for a moment. "Why do you know?"_

"…_Because…" Len thought, and then mumbled something._

"_Because…?"_

_Len's face was all red by now. "Because…well, because you never ceased to discover new things about growing up, like puberty and everything…"_

"…_Kagamine Len, you are a big pervert."_

"_Well, you asked for it." Len laughed as Rin punched him playfully on the shoulder._

_~End Flashback~ _

"It's the purple-haired guy who's abusing my brother?" Rin thinks in horror. "But…but…" _He's tall and slender,_ Len had said. _Kind of muscular, but not quite._ There are more sounds. Finally, Rin gives in to temptation and slowly makes her way toward Gakupo and Len.

Her jaw drops when she sees the actual couple.

~.~^.~

Rin doesn't know how long the horrible moments lasted, but all she remembers is stumbling back to her bicycle in a flurry of embarrassment and shame. Gakupo and Luka had both looked up when she walked in on their (not so) private scene. Luka is pretty much naked instead of the gray panty hose she wears, and a gray scarf draped over her shoulder. With Gakupo…Rin didn't really look at him, but she remembers that he at least has his pants on—well, half off. He was leaning over Luka in a position that Rin could only describe as a "seme" position, and Luka seemed to be accepting it.

Rin's face is extremely red, and as she bikes home, she wonders _how_ she could have made such a mistake.

~.~^.~

"Rin, what's up?" a blonde greets her at the door.

Rin leaps back in shock, nearly tumbling off the front steps, and then realizes that it's just Len. "I'm fine; what about you?" she replies, trying to squeeze past him, making as little conversation as possible. Len looks troubled and he blocks the doorway.

"Not until you tell me what's up."

"The sky," Rin says, still trying to get past him, avoiding eye contact. It's a stupid joke, but she just wants to get in quickly. She punches him lightly, the first contact she has made since his haircut. "Come on, let me in."

Len folds his arms across his chest, adamant. "What about the sky?"

"It's up there. Now can I _please_ go in?"

Len sighs and steps aside. "_Rin,_ I just wanted to look different for a while," he calls as she runs up the stairs to her pillow. When Len realizes that Rin really isn't going to listen to him, Len rubs his forehead and closes the door, pulling out his phone.

Fifteen new texts await him.

_How_ did_ I become so popular?_ Len wonders as he opens the first one, from Miku.

'Hai. . .is Rin okay? She seemed upset at school today, btw.'

"It's just a normal part of growing up," Len mumbles, trying to comfort himself, because Rin must be upset over his new look. "People change. And you can't blame your brother if he wants a change from the usual dull look, either." He feels slightly better now, and replies.

'herro. rin's still kind of pissed, but I think she can come around. . .'

~.~^.~

Rin passes Mrs. Kagamine as she runs up to her bedroom. Later that night—

_Oh, dear. Rin's not feeling well._

_And her face was red, too. I heard her mumbling about someone named Gakupo and someone named Luka and her brother Len. Hmm…  
_

* * *

**...RIN-CHAN I'M SO SORRY! D; *pats Rin's head* But you won't be scarred for life! At least, I hope not...But that'll depend on how I write the next chapter... XDD Anyway, Len's look was inspired from 96neko's video, _Len-kun NAU_. Pause it at 64 seconds into the video (one minute, four seconds), and then you'll see hot Len~  
**

**Read and review!**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	10. Fifteen and a Half: To Choose

**I'm sorry I wasn't able to do Rin-ness this chapter! D: I just wanted to finish up Len's dilemma. It's short and scanty, but the next chapter will be the actual awesomeness and make up for this short one XD  
**

**RIGHT AND VOTE ON MY POLL. _VOTE ON THE POLL_. It's for Rin's partner.**

**Thanks to these people for reviewing~ Ten-Faced, PopRockPuppy23, Skafe, Dale Z. Larmint, RinLenLOVE4427, Forever Lazy, avaflava1, Koolteen619 (that's okay, at least you're being honest XD), and Aomori Miki! Sankyuu as always~! I feel like such a terrible person because I haven't been updating...  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Fifteen and a Half: To Choose_

Girls are such a big part of Len's life now.

For example, honey-tongued Iana would take him out in the lunch period for coffee breaks. They would speak over matters of the school over the dark drinks; it feels quite official that way, and Iana has recently taken up smoking—a cigarette to go with coffee.

Softhearted Luna would run up to his elbow and clutch it, her blue eyes wide. "Do you really love me?" she would ask, to which Len has no answer.

Quiet, shy Miki would watch him from a distance, but sometimes she would turn and glance at him, her cherry-auburn eyes simmering with such ferocity of feeling that Len almost reels. When she realizes that he's looking back at her, she blushes to the roots of her crimson hair, but not before she shoots him an adoring smile. However, Len notices that she's torn in choosing—Piko, Kaito (who has now been peeled off of Miku), or Len?

Loud Teto would boldly run up, giggle girlishly, hug him, and hurry away, but always not before yelling to the jealous fangirls, "YOU SUCK, LOSERS!"

Ruko is much the same, except she chooses a much more subtle way. When the other girls aren't around, she would slink up to him and offer her hand and a brilliant smile. For a moment, words would elude Len's mind as he gazes down at her slim, outstretched fingers.

Seiyu is new, but she keeps chattering to Len about Korean marriage rituals. Len, for some reason, doesn't find it annoying. Instead, it comes as endearing to him—the mandarin duck, thrown to predict the baby's gender, is one of his favorites of hearing about. She would replay the tale of it over and over again.

Luo Tianyi doesn't speak much during school hours as she is quite studious, but when she sees Len alone after school she would lead him to her favorite park, and they would sit down on the benches and simply talk.

But that's all okay.

Len doesn't care_ that_ much about them.

It's probably just a simple high-school crush that would fade sooner or later.

The two girls that Len has the most trouble deciding around are Miku and Gumi.

Miku is sweet and pretty. Her features beautifully articulated, her status of being at the top for the battle of popularity since she was only ten. She's quite similar to Iana, except she's much less sly, and her voice is clear and pure, unlike Iana, who purrs to muffle the roughness of her voice. Len knows that Miku truly cares for Rin, but Rin is way too blunt to admit that for herself. She's been a bit cold toward Miku ever since Miku left them, and then came back.

Gumi, meanwhile, is honest and true. She doesn't have any of the perfection that Miku implies, but instead a heart of gold. Tender and kind, never hesitating to give any opinions, but in, rather, the nicer way. They're both beautiful.

~.~^.~

"Don't you ever miss Russia?" Len finds himself asking one sunny June day, the question aimed at Gumi.

Gumi looks at him for a while, then gives an airy shrug. "Well, I guess. I sort of miss the cold…I mean, I even bundle up on the spring days." She smiles slightly in remembrance. "I also miss how the Easter eggs are painted. It is like nobody here cares much about the eggs in Easter. My grandmother was a Ukrainian, and you should have seen the eggs she had painted. They are really pretty."

"Is that so," Len muses softly. "I see…"

Gumi nudges him. "Anyway, I broke up with the Russian guy…he is flighty. He sees me for one moment, and then he has got his eyes on another person. I am sorry I got so carried away."

Len's bewildered. Gumi is apologizing out of the blue…?

"I do not plan on our friendship being the same as it has ever been," Gumi continues, and smiles brightly at him again. "In fact, go after Miku if you wish, but I just want to remain friends. Okay, Len?" Len's jaw drops; he has no words for this. "I'll miss you, but I know that at least it's not in vain that I try to catch your attention," Gumi remarks.

"Th…thank you," Len stammers.

"Now let's go get some carrot cake," Gumi replies, flashing another of her quick grins at him.

~.~^.~

The creamy popsicle soothes Miku's tongue, which is aching for a taste of Len's mouth again. She sits at her place at the tea table rigidly, because it's not every day that people turn to gawk at her sophisticated-ness. Miku actually finds attention rather awkward out of school, and her eyes dart back and forth among the people who are trying to make the fact subtle that they're looking at her. _Where is Len?_ Is he late again?

There's a thump across from her. Miku raises her delicate eyebrows, above her sunglasses, and realizes that it's Len's bag that's making the sound.

"Hi, Miku," Len pants breathlessly. "I'm sorry I was late."

_He's kind of cute when he's like that…_

Miku has a sudden urge to cuddle him in public, because of the amusing apologetic look on his face, but no, that wouldn't do. People are wondering who Miku and Len are, and Miku doesn't want to lose her composure that quickly to Len.

"Tea," she says, passing him a porcelain cup. Len nods and takes a gulp.

"Aeeeeeegkkkkkk!" He chokes on the tea, and Miku leans across the table to slap him on the back. Len coughs and sets the tea down sheepishly.

"You weren't supposed to drink it so _quickly,_ Len," Miku says, stifling a giggle. "This is not soda. Take meditative sips. Like this." She demonstrates by raising the teacup to her rosebud lips and silently savoring the taste. Len watches her closely, and tries to do the same, but with the same result.

"Tea's not for me," Len gasps.

"I figured that out quickly enough," Miku agrees, taking a lick of her popsicle as Len unwraps his.

"Anyway…" Len raises an eyebrow.

Miku stops in midbite. "Yessss?"

"I cleared it up with Gumi. She's fine with us going out, but you'll have to accept her sometime."

Miku can't help it then. "Really? Really?" she asks excitedly. "That's pretty generous of her. I can't…Well, I don't know her much, but I'll try to be nicer to her. Now I feel kind of guilty for being so mean…"

Len smiles. "That's okay. In any case, shall we get some alone time together?"

Miku nods and giggles. "That'd be fine with me."

~.~^.~

Len has invited Miku over for more than an hour, and they have spent that hour in the bedroom. Mrs. Kagamine wonders what this could mean.

_And strange sounds are coming from the bedroom…Oh, dear._

* * *

**IA SMOKES!**

**...Now that my hyper burst is over, let's talk about Rin's partner! Should I put an OC or a Vocaloid? If it's an OC, tell me how the OC is supposed to look, act, and everything...and his name, definitely.  
**

**Otherwise, vote on the poll~!  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	11. Sixteen Years Old: First Kiss

**Oliver wins! I'll take Rei Hagane too though, he's damned adorable. I think I have a crush coming on…Also, I'll put Ryo Hobeni, rockitty99's OC, somewhere in here. His tsundere personality is too good to turn down~**  
**AHEM. Anyway, Oliver wins with ten people voting for 'im, fifty percent of all the people. Lui is second, with four people voting for him and twenty percent of all the people. Piko is third, with three people voting for him and fifteen percent of all the people. Then comes Kaito (Onii Yuukai! :D) with two people voting for him, ten percent of all the people. Finally there's Big Al, with one person voting for him and five percent of all the people. Thanks for voting, everyone~!**

**Thank you these people for reviewing- Rizzo-P, PopRockPuppy23, Dale Z. Larmint, Troubled Windchimes (aka RinLenLOVE4427), Ten-Faced, Angel Royal, KimmyG15, and Isabella-chan. Thank you all for reviewing/voting your preferences!  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Sixteen Years Old: First Kiss_

A chilly breeze sweeps over the landscape. Dry, withered leaves blow along with it.

How could this year's early September be so cold?

Rin shivers and wraps her jacket all the more tightly around herself. Currently Len is deciding between Gumi and Miku. Miku has withdrawn—again—and that leaves Len with Gumi. Rin doesn't think Len is particularly upset, especially since Miku seems to be obsessed over Kaito, who has recently given Miki up to Piko. She snorts involuntarily._ Len._

Rin has her own problems to think about, too. Recently a new boy, Oliver, has been rather sweet toward her. Not shy-sweet. Sweet, as in my-ultimate-goal-is-to-be-in-a-bed-with-you sweet. Passionate sweet.

There's nothing really blocking her way to getting Oliver—that is, if parents don't count.

~.~^.~

One night as Oliver drops her off from school, which has recently started, Rin makes her way to her bedroom. On the way, Mrs. Kagamine blocks her.

"Who is that boy who was so sweet to you?" she asks hesitantly.

Rin stops in her tracks. Mom can't be jealous, of all the things, can she? "He's…Oliver," she says, mentally hitting her head in annoyance to herself that she didn't tell her overprotective mother earlier. Rin reflects back briefly to her parents' "bidding" with the age Len should be when he has sex.

"Now Rin," says Mrs. Kagamine sternly, "we warned you. No sex until you're eighty."

"But—but, I would have stopped having my…"

"Are you trying to contradict me?" Mrs. Kagamine asks, morphing into a scary version of her former self. A steely glint in her eyes, she continues, "It doesn't matter whether you would have stopped having your period. Then adopt a child."

_Hypocrite,_ Rin thinks. Besides, who would want a mother who's eighty years old?

"I'm sorry, Rin," sighs Mrs. Kagamine after seeing Rin's expression. "I'm just…Len's dating now, and I'm worrying for him…What will happen once he becomes a baby-daddy? I don't want to ruin yours and Whodatboysname's life. What would Whodatboysname do if _you_ get pregnant? What would _you_ do once you get pregnant? The possibilities are scary."

"Mom," Rin tries, "we're sixteen. And his name is Oliver."

Mrs. Kagamine frowns. "Sixteen is not the ultimate age for sex."

"…That's right, I need to learn how to drive a car. Mooom, when can I start my lessons?"

"_You_," Mrs. Kagamine says, "will not be learning how to drive a car until you can tell me with your full heart that you will avoid all crashes."

"But I can't avoid all crashes if I don't know how to drive a car," Rin says, trying to make sense of her botched up logic.

"What are you saying, Rin? Of course you can. All you have to do is to walk to school every day, and you'll be fine. I heard from Len about Iana. Do you know what happened to her? She was smoking and drinking…and began at _fifteen_, for an orange's sake, and now she was driving around drunk just a month ago and got a big scratch on her daddy's car's fender. Didn't you hear?"

Rin sighs. "I did…" Of course she would. Luna was squealing it all over them that Monday. And besides, cars can crash into pedestrians too. She now knows where she inherited her strange sense of reasoning.

"That's right," Mrs. Kagamine says triumphantly. "And remember you walked in on that purple-haired lad and his girlfriend Luka having sex? That is a definite no-no."

"He wore a condom," Rin says weakly. Or so she thinks. In reality, she's not sure, but if Gakupo didn't wear a condom…Rin is actually hoping Gakupo didn't wear a condom. She's curious—really curious—of what their baby would look like. But then, being the student Luka was, Luka probably called for an abortion.

"Let's try to understand each other, Rin. Don't get too ahead of yourself." Mrs. Kagamine looks at her daughter in the eye, which is not hard because Rin's practically the same height as her by now. "Don't get too sweet on this…Whodatboysname."

"He's _Oliver_, Mom."

"Oliver. Don't get too sweet on him," Mrs. Kagamine repeats. "Let some time go between yourselves. Time will determine your love."

Love advice? It's kind of a weird love advice. If she avoids him, wouldn't the relationship weaken? Yet Mrs. Kagamine seems oblivious of the fact, and as proof the overprotective mother smiles and pats Rin's elbow. "Don't worry, Rin. I mean, Len has a new friend named Rei Hagane, and then there's Ryo Hobeni, who's Rei's friend. You have a lot of time for new love, other than Oliver. So time will decide which boy belongs to you."

_Mom is definitely weird…_ Rin watches her mother's back as Mrs. Kagamine turns around and walks away to cook lunch.

~.~^.~

A month passes, then two, and then three. Soon, Christmas Eve's morning dawns onto the Kagamine household. The house is festive, what with Len running around with his arms full of holly and stockings (Mrs. Kagamine's orders), Rei and Ryo walking around with no apparent destination (because Mrs. Kagamine said, "The more the merrier," and so Len brought his friends), Miku and Gumi standing in the doorway awkwardly (everyone else is too occupied to care, and Rei and Ryo don't know what to do), and Rin in the kitchen scrubbing the dishes furiously to prepare for the midday dinner. There is no break in the workings. Mrs. Kagamine has always been a big fan of Christmas, and now she's determined to make her fellow family members obsessed with it too.

"Honestly?" sighs Mr. Kagamine, looking up from his book as Mrs. Kagamine piles a bunch of oranges on him.

"Honestly," Mrs. Kagamine says firmly. "Now set these on the fireplace." Mr. Kagamine grumbles, but he obeys. He's not sure whether oranges are part of Christmas or not—Mrs. Kagamine gets things mixed up quite often—but once Mrs. Kagamine makes up her mind, there's no arguing with her. Well, close to no arguing.

"Hey, boys!" Mrs. Kagamine calls to Rei and Ryo. "Help me with the laundry! Have you no experience with clothes?" Rei, shy Rei, runs to grab a load from Mrs. Kagamine, and Ryo follows closely after, not one to be outdone.

"Why aren't the girls doing anything?" Ryo demands as he staggers under the weight of clothes.

"Girls!" Mrs. Kagamine bellows. "Go help Rin with the dishes!"

"Y–yes, Mrs. Kagamine!" Miku says quickly, and pulls Gumi along with her. They have gotten closer, just as Miku had promised a half a year ago that they would. Now Miku doesn't care who Gumi is in a relationship, and Gumi doesn't either. They have, actually, spent some of their spare afternoons together to mull over who should be paired with Rin.

"Did you call Oliver yet?" Gumi whispers to Miku once they arrive into the kitchen. Miku shakes her head and presses a finger to her full rosebud lips.

"Not yet, Gumi. It's got to be a surprise for Rin. A Christmas surprise." Miku cracks a smile.

"Here, you can work on those," Rin says, jutting her chin out at a full stack of dishes next to her, as her hands are working stains off of a metal bowl, claimed to be "stainless steel". "My hands seriously hurt from this work."

"Your family has this many dishes, Rin?" Gumi asks in disbelief, getting a wipe, and her fingers skillfully scrub the porcelain dish that's in her hand.

"We have a lot of relatives," Rin replies, not missing a beat. "Ever since Kaito and his bunch of cousins and brothers got into the family, they've been coming over for holidays and Mom had to buy this many to keep up with their huge appetites," she adds with an apologetic smile. "Kaito's granddad just came yesterday to wish us a happy early Christmas and he brought along all of his sons and grandsons, so…"

"Oh," Gumi says, trying not to laugh. "Okay."

Miku tries to sound offhand and subtle. "Hey Rin, usually when do you open your presents at Christmastime?"

"Whenever I wake up on a day I wouldn't have to go to school—which is like nine in the morning. Why?" she asks suspiciously, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing," Miku says hastily. "I was wondering…You know, I usually open them at lunch." Her desperate glance at Gumi tells said girl that she needs to keep Rin "entertained" for a while as Miku calls Oliver. Luckily, Gumi is a girl who understands body language quite well, and she proceeds to tell Rin about her own traditions, allowing Miku to sneak out of the room without Rin noticing.

~.~^.~

"Oh, dammit!" Miku curses once outside the kitchen. Oliver didn't pick up. She punches the number for "voicemail" on her phone, and begins in her sweetest voice, "Oliver, I have a favor to ask you…"

~.~^.~

Christmas morning, and the Kagamines are very excited.

It's nine-o'clock a.m. Miku and Gumi have stayed overnight; so has Ryo, but Rei had to go home due to strict parents. But Rei came at around seven in the morning. The stockings in the living room are filled to the brim with gifts from friends and family—Miku's teal one, Gumi's carrot one, Rin's plain red one, Len's banana-yellow one, and Ryo's orange one. Rei had brought his own stocking as well, and during the time he wasn't looking, Len, Ryo, Miku, Gumi, Rin, Mr. Kagamine, and Mrs. Kagamine had thrown their gifts into there too. Now his stocking is fairly close to bursting.

"Present time!" Mrs. Kagamine declares, ringing a bell. Right then, Rin doesn't care whether Mrs. Kagamine is embarrassing all of the rest of the Kagamines; she makes a beeline for her stocking, and quickly throws her gifts out of it.

"Whoa, whoa, take it easy on the old felt!" Miku laughs and nudges her aside to have a peek in her own stocking. She lets out a squeal of delight, having spotted a few high-quality-grown leeks.

"A carrot plushie!" Gumi says, holding it up proudly for everyone to see. "Who made it?"

"I did," Len volunteers shyly, a blush carpeting his face. "My stitches are kind of uneven, sorry about that…" Ryo snickers and elbows Rei, but Rei is fawning over his own gifts, one of which is _The Tale of Genji_. Gumi leans over, ignoring the boys, and gives Len a kiss on the cheek. Suddenly Rin gives a scream of delight, and everyone falls silent.

"A figurine of me made out of glass! Yes! YESSSSS!"

"Uh, it's actually plastic," Miku corrects her. "Gumi and I made it…her dad kind of helped, because he knew how to shape marzipan, so we figured that he knew how to work with plastic too…And apparently he did." She fingers a tiny leek charm, and tries to figure out a way to attach it to the silver bracelet on her left wrist. Mr. Kagamine strides over and helps her slide the charm onto one of the rings dangling from the bracelet.

Rin squeals a thanks and bends over with her gifts again, strewn across the floor, when suddenly the doorbell rings.

~.~^.~

"Oliver!" Rin cries in astonishment. "Why—how—?"

"Well, Miku was the one…" He glances at the guilty girl, who was giggling behind her hand. A lightbulb clicks on in Rin's head.

"You! That was why you asked me when I opened my presents!"

"We were afraid that you would be somewhere else on Christmas Day if you were not opening presents," Gumi explained, Miku's apparent partner-in-crime.

"Enough about that!" Mr. Kagamine showers the teens with a handful of popcorn. "LET'S PARTY!"

Rin and Oliver exchange glances, and then Oliver laughs and leans in.

~.~^.~

Rin stumbles into the living room in a daze. The feeling of Oliver's lips on hers is too wonderful for her brain to accept. In fact, speaking of her brain, she's sure that it's been turned into sweet s'mores already. Or maybe it evaporated out of her ears. Whatever.

The kiss was none too passionate, but it wasn't just a feathery brush, either. For a moment while they were kissing, Rin lost herself in Oliver's, well, olive green eyes. Rin had to glance down at her feet to make sure that they were still on the ground, not floating around on cloud nine, and that was what broke the kiss. She now knows what Len felt when he was choosing between Gumi and Miku.

"Uh, Rin, are you okay?" Len asks, staring at her cherry-red face.

"Ahahaha – Sure!" Rin says hastily, remembering Mrs. Kagamine's disapproval of the idea of Rin + Oliver = awesomeness. "Come on, want to watch a movie?"

"You're weird, Rin," Len says, raising an eyebrow.

Little does Rin and Oliver know, Mrs. Kagamine had been watching them as they kissed.

~.~^.~

To: My-Daughter-Is-Obsessed-With-Her-Phone  
From: PROUD Kagamine Mother  
Subject: RIN AND OLIVER!

don't tell anyone. this is just a quick little note. rin & oliver kissed. relationship = inevitable. u have a daughter who juggles boyfriends. u have juggled boyfriends too. any advice on the two lovebirds & how to break them apart?

~.~^.~

Maybe she shouldn't have done that, because once Rin and Oliver went back into school after winter break, everyone knew what happened between them during Christmas.

Because of a sneaky little hacker named Neru Akita who-broke-into-her-mother's-account-by*coughcough_accident_coughcough*.

* * *

**WAAAH! This is so long!**

**I'm sorry for not incorporating any sex. Why? Because Oliver is not going to be a baby-daddy at sixteen. But, if I don't get another notion, the next chapter _will_ be about baby birth.  
**

**Thank you for reading~! Review if you can!  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	12. Nineteen Years Old: Only Nine Months?

**UWAAHHHHH! Since you all have been so good to me, I present to you the next chapter~!  
**

**No, no "sex" in here. Just childbirth.  
**

**Thanks for reviewing to these people~ Skafe, DancingWithTheFaeries, InTheShadowsOfHeros (I'm very sorry! D: I wasn't able to incorporate any GakuLuka in here), Ten-Faced, Troubled Windchimes, Aomori Miki, and KawaiiDeshuu~! Thank you thank you thank you~!  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Nineteen Years Old: Only Nine Months?_

It's early June, and Rin has just gotten out of her first year of college.

College was hard at first, with a bunch of work coming at her from all sides, and Rin's unsureness of what to think. Then it became better and better, and Rin found more time to work with her colleagues. College is fine, but Rin feels better now that she's on break.

Len and Gumi have gotten into the same college. Rin doesn't know what they have done during the months they've been apart, but she's maintained a fairly well relationship with Oliver. They've been a couple, as in boyfriend-slash-girlfriend, since twelfth grade. Rin's overprotective parents have finally gotten used to the fact that their children are growing up and they can't do anything about it—isn't life short?—so they have resigned many of their barriers to certain things. This almost provoked Len to go and drink once, but luckily Gumi had made him promise that he wouldn't as long as they're together, which made Len think better of the idea.

Rin's on the train now, coming back to her old town and home. Her head swarms with visions of old family and friends—Miku, Gumi, Len, Kaito and his million relatives…and even people Rin wasn't particularly close to, or isn't close to anymore, like Luna or Iana. Iana is actually a highschool dropout, as she has mated with one of Kaito's million relatives when he was visiting town, and that relative has become a baby-daddy.

Rin presses herself against the glass window, her eyes taking note of the rice fields, the corn fields, the birds, the telephone wires…anything she could see.

This is it. This is her old home.

Giddy excitement fills Rin's throat, and she's so choked up she can't even speak.

"I'm coming back, everyone!"

~.~^.~

"RINNNNNN!" A teal-haired beauty steps off the bus just as she notices her old friend lingering around the train station, looking lost of where to ogle first. She flies toward Rin, and engulfs her in a huge hug, a radiant smile lighting up her entire face. A blue-haired young man soon follows, smiling too.

"Mikuuuuuu!" Rin throws her arms around said woman. "It seems just yesterday that we were having sexual education with Mr. Hiyama!"

"Yes, indeed!" Miku lets out a girlish giggle and beckons to the man. "Come on, Kaito! Aren't you going to say hi to your…um…"

"Second cousin-in-law," Rin says.

"Yeah, second cousin-in-law. So aren't you?"

"Hi, Rin."

"You guys will warm up to each other soon, no problem." Miku rolls her eyes, and throws an arm about Rin's slim shoulders. "Come on, I heard that Len and Gumi would be coming in the same train, which is like forty-five minutes from now. But then, they have ride a train to the other train stop, which is like two hours, and then they ride to this town, which is one hour more. We have plenty of time to smooth things over and catch up on old town news!" Miku takes a pair of sunglasses out of her purse and balances them on the bridge of her nose, her cerulean eyes shaded by the glasses. "Let's go to the coffee shop!"

"Well, I don't know if my parents will…"

"You're an adult now, Rin!" Miku laughs. "You can do whatever you want! Besides, Luo Tianyi has been let off from her college classes a few days earlier, and she's a waitress at the coffee shop when she's not studying. Let's go meet up with her!"

Rin ponders this thought. Well, she _is_ nineteen now. She could do whatever she wants…

"Fair deal!" Rin decides exuberantly, and links her arm within Miku's.

~.~^.~

Miku taps her foot, back at the train stop after three hours. Rin has called home and said that she'd be at the train stop with Miku to pick up Len and Gumi. Mrs. Kagamine, though rather reluctantly, has agreed.

"Where _are_ they?" Miku demands impatiently. "The train isn't _late_, is it?"

"I hope not…" Rin fiddles with her slender fingers.

"Come on, Rin. H—" Miku gets no farther than that; a sharp whistle blow announces the train's arrival. "LEN! GUMI!" she shrieks, pushing through the crowd that has exited from the car doors. "WHERE ARE YOU GUYS?" Rin is about to join in with her loud voice when her phone suddenly rings. Seeing the caller ID, Rin doesn't recall seeing that number before…Quizzically she flips open the phone.

"Hello?"

"Rin! Rin!" Len's voice is breathless, excited. "You won't believe this!"

"Len?" Is that really him? His voice has deepened, quite…

"Come on, tell Mom that you'll be gone for a few more hours! She's _got_ to accept this event! Just come to the hospital at…" Len rattles off the details, and Rin scrambles for a pen to record the address. She ends up writing it on the back of a check. "HURRY UP AND COME, GUMI CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!"

_It sounds like real trouble…_

"Roger! MIKUUUUU!" Rin yells for her teal-haired friend, who joins her quickly.

"Did you see them? Did you? Did you?"

"Hurry up and let's get to the hospital!"

"Wh—" Miku is immediately yanked off her feet by a rushing Rin.

"The train is about to leave, Miku! Hurry up!"

~.~^.~

Gumi lies peacefully in her bed facing the noon sun. A hand over her stomach, her tired eyes scanning the horizon. Next to her is a young being, one just born minutes ago, with feathery bright yellow hair. Now that the hour of excitement is over, she's quite drained of energy. The father rushes into the room, his mouth set in an exuberant grin.

"I called Rin. Who's this?"

"I named her Lily," Gumi says hoarsely. She breaks into a slight smile. "Are they coming?"

"Soon." Len paces around the room hurriedly, as if he can't wait. This is the most feeling she'd seen him express in a very long time.

Just as Gumi is about to say something more, the door bursts open.

~.~^.~

"Rin, meet your niece! Miku, your goddaughter." Gumi's smile widens as she shows Lily to Rin and Miku, both of which have slack jaws. Len's grin is just as wide. Gumi is sure that they look like dorky idiots at the moment, but she can't help but feel pride in her creation—the baby that she and Len had created together. Life is so wondrous, isn't it?

"Y–y…you…" After an interval, Rin has finally found her voice. "You—have—a…a…_baby_?" she squeaks in a high-pitched voice.

"Isn't she beautiful?" Gumi strokes Lily's head. "Her name is Lily."

In a torrent of rushed words, Len explains their plans. "A few months of college are enough for Gumi because she dropped out and bought an apartment as soon as her professors realized she was pregnant and I'm to continue my college education and get a degree and possibly later in life Gumi will go back to college but in any way I'm planning on becoming a master at science and language arts so I could be a college professor and earn enough to support the both of us so Rin tell Mom she needn't worry because we can support ourselves and I'll earn enough money working cutting hair each summer to be able to not make us fall into debt and besides we'll conserve and we'll—"

"Rewind, _rewind,_ Len," Miku interrupts. "Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. This is great; it's about time when I go independent. I'll only rely on you all in my most dire moments, which isn't now. Now is the time to simply coo over Lily. So, isn't she gorgeous?" Len gently eases her from Gumi's hands, and holds it up for Rin and Miku to get a good view.

"She's kind of…pretty," Rin remarks, stroking the tuft of blonde hair. "So you named her Lily?"

Gumi shrugs. "It sort of popped into my head in the last moment…Just look at those eyes." Those watery blue eyes, clear and sparkling, even on a baby. Lily blinks hard and lets out a shrill cry, startling all four adults. Gumi quickly takes Lily again and rocks her gently in her arms.

"Just…one thing," Rin says, raising a finger.

"What?" After he and Gumi have created Lily out of some simple body movements, Len feels like he could do—and answer—anything.

"…Are you married yet?"

~.~^.~

"Th–th…That shouldn't be too hard," Len stammers as an embarrassed blush ascends his face. Of course! How couldn't he have remembered? "I mean, we can just stand up and say we're married, right? And I'll buy a wedding ri—"

"You," says Rin firmly, "are going to have an awesome wedding."

…_Women. _Len groans.

"We can do it next year," Gumi suggests softly. "After Len's finished with his second year of college."

"You can't own a baby if you're not married," Miku says skeptically. "Isn't that the law?"

"Well, there's no law on that…," Rin contradicts hesitantly. "But then Len has no power over Lily. So it's best for Lily that they marry, so he can have his say in what to do with her, but it's fine if they don't. Then, he's not considered as a real parent, just as 'that guy who got Gumi pregnant'."

Len and Gumi exchange worried glances. "I don't _want_ to be thought of as 'that guy who got Gumi pregnant'," Len protests.

"Then you're going to marry. Legally."

"…Can we plan this later?" Gumi murmurs, still clutching Lily in her arms. "Right now, I just want some time with Lily." Her pleading gaze is all it takes for Rin to soften.

"Yeah, we'll plan after we go home. You have to stay a few days in the hospital, right?" Gumi nods, and Rin raises an eyebrow at Len.

"I'll stay here with her."

"Then that leaves us two. Mom is going to kill me if I don't make it home. And you, too," she adds to Len's furrowed brow. "But we'll explain to her…Well, you will, right, Miku?" It's a well-known fact by now that Mrs. Kagamine is more willing to yield to someone with a sweet tongue like Miku, especially if they aren't directly related. So whenever Rin gets into trouble, it's usually Miku that bails her out.

Miku sighs and checks her reflection in a hand mirror. "You really owe me, Rin."

"I do. I'll buy you some leeks later."

"Deal."

~.~^.~

Mr. Kagamine's jaw drops, and he could only stand there in a daze. _"Len had a baby?"_

"Gumi," Rin corrects, and elbows Miku, giving her the cue to begin. But before Miku can get a word out, Mrs. Kagamine quickly grabs her purse and counts the money in it.

"We've got to plan a wedding right away!" And drags Rin and Miku and her husband with her.

~.~^.~

Mrs. Kagamine's hand is shaking so much, she can't even write in her to-do book. But she manages the messy words—

_LEN HAS A BABY!_

_MUST PLAN WEDDING!  
_

* * *

**And because I'm awesome, the next chapter will be about Len and Gumi's wedding!**

**Thank you all for following me so far into this story!~ ^w^  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	13. Still Nineteen Years: Wedding

**Just for knowing- I'm not married. I'm far away from that. I just learned how the weddings go by experience, web searching, and books, particularly the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. :D So if I got anything wrong, someone _please_ point it out to me.  
**

**Thanks to these people for reviewing- Troubled Windchimes, Dale Z. Larmint, MistyBallet, Ten-Faced, InTheShadowsofHeros, Skafe, KawaiiDeshuu, and Aomori Miki (since you've been reviewing without logging in your account lately, I couldn't respond to them XD so if you find it weird that I'm not responding, that's the reason XDDDDD)~ I wuv you guys~  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Still Nineteen Years: Wedding_

It's much hustle and bustle, but it has to be done. Len wants a quick wedding, but Mrs. Kagamine had objected. After some time of reasoning with the mother (mainly Miku), Mrs. Kagamine finally relented and is pulling Gumi to some stores buy a wedding dress and help her pick out the bridesmaids' dresses (Rin and Miku). Meanwhile, Mr. Kagamine is taking Len to buy his suit along with Rei and Ryo, the best man and the usher respectively. Mr. Kagamine, as well, is an usher, and Rin has some worries on how Ryo and her father would greet the guests.

"Look, how's this?" Mrs. Kagamine drags a dress out of the racks. It has elegant design and flows to the ground gracefully. It _would_ have been beautiful if it isn't hot pink and extremely busty.

"Who are we inviting?" Miku asks, counting on her hands. "Let's see…There's Luna…Iana… Seiyu…Luo Tianyi…Teto…Miki…a bunch of those—"

"And relatives," Mrs. Kagamine interrupts, grabbing a handful of fresh-cut flowers and showering them over Gumi. She steps back and purses her lips critically, as if trying to imagine Gumi in the actual wedding. They have practiced without costume for a while, hired a pastor, and bought all of the props and tables and rented a place in a hotel, but they haven't sent out invitations yet, and the matron of honor has to be decided.

Gumi looks a bit overwhelmed. "Not too many people! I only met most of them in high school. Besides, I want to invite some of my old Russian friends too."

"We can do that," Rin says. "Who?"

"Well…There is Sonika…Miriam…and Avanna…"

Mrs. Kagamine looks a bit skeptical. "Do you know how we could contact them?" Seeing Gumi's enthusiastic nod, she softens slightly. "How, then?"

"They are pretty active on Twitter. I can invite them through there. But the rest of the guests…you can choose." A pretty flush ascends Gumi's cheeks, and she walks over to a rack with an excited bounce in her step. After some ruffling of clothes, Gumi pulls out another wedding dress.

It's much better than Mrs. Kagamine's choice. It's a strapless white dress that sweeps the floor. Rather tight from the chest down to the upper thigh, the dress Gumi has grabbed is spotlighted more on figure. Tightness gone and the snowy silk flows smoothly and swishes whenever the wearer wants. After wearing a loose white maternity shirt for a while, this is a pleasant change, and fitting for her. It _looks_ serious, but there's a playfulness in the dress if Gumi wears it correctly. A faint girlishness.

"You know what, Gumi, I think that might be the one," Mrs. Kagamine says, sounding as proud as if she had picked it herself.

"Really?" Gumi smiles bashfully. "I like it too."

"So we've got Kaito and his million relatives on h—"

"Limit it to Kaito, Nigaito, and Taito," Rin interrupts. "All of the rest are impossible to handle."

"Right! Kaito, Nigaito, and Taito," Miku says, writing it down. "Then Sonika, Miriam, Avanna, Oliver, Luna, Iana, Seiyu, Luo Tianyi, Teto, Miki, Ruko, Neru, and—"

"I don't want Neru, Ruko, or Iana at the wedding," Rin protests.

"What about Luka?"

"Luka?" Rin suddenly remembers the older girl. She must be at least twenty-one by now. "But…I don't even…"

"Oh," Miku says. "I met her at Costco yesterday. She and Gakupo were in the 'baby' aisle. And she had a gold band on her left hand's ring finger. And they looked very much in love—Luka even curled her hair. They were laughing and talking together, and when Luka noticed me she called me over to help her pick a toy. Luka even asked me—in a joke, I think—how you're doing, Rin."

Rin and Gumi's jaws are both slack.

"What?" Gumi finally says.

"It's true! So if you're not going to invite them, Luka can come. And she can be the matron of honor!"

"But…But I don't even know her," Rin says.

"Luka's pretty friendly nowadays. I guess the first time she did it, she got an abortion or just didn't get pregnant, and then Gakupo did it with her again. Because her stomach looked pretty rounded to me. And no, Luka's not fat," Miku adds to Rin's disbelieving face.

"What are we waiting for, then?" Mrs. Kagamine interrupts. "The wedding is a week away; ON WITH IT!"

~.~^.~

"Wilt thou…" the pastor begins in a lilting voice.

Without even waiting for the pasty old man to finish the sentence, Gumi laughs and reaches for Len's arm. She's rosy-cheeked and happy, and Len is much the same—except looking slightly shy of all the attention. Lily is in Luka's arms; Rin and Miku have bouquets. Love, a clear, pure feeling, can be felt ricocheting off of every wall of the octagon-shaped hotel room. Gumi's gaze sweeps the audience; so many people she knows, some are closer to her heart than others. "I will!"

"And will the gr—"

"I will as well!" Len says, and without waiting for orders he simply slips the ring onto Gumi's slim finger, and kisses it, sending another blush onto Gumi's cheeks.

The pastor is flustered and annoyed. This isn't supposed to happen! They haven't even exchanged vows yet! And that young blonde man right in front of him is already jumping into the ritual… "Wait!" he says, running forth. "You were supposed—"

"We don't care!" bellows Mr. Kagamine. Rin facepalms, knowing what's coming next. She can see Gakupo's grin of amusement, and Luka's dancing aquamarine eyes tell her that they're enjoying it, even if everything's totally out of place. "Let the boy do what they want to! This is an _awesome_ wedding, ya hear, Mr. Pastor? So we're going to go to the wedding reception now, and partyyy—"

"I'm very sorry, kind sir, but we must—"

"Oh, who gives a flying sword about the rules! Let's PARTYYYYY!" hollers a pinkhead who Rin recognizes as Iroha's father, Yuuma. Iroha, who is a childhood friend of the twins, has come. She could be seen next to Yuuma, blushing her face off, as her father and Rin's father high-five each other.

"Let's party!" Gumi echoes with a tinkling laugh, and she gives the pastor a good-natured pat. She and her newly wedded husband exchange a tongue kiss which is enough to make Yuuma and Mr. Kagamine go "awwww," and then they shepherd all of the guests to the next room where the reception is to take place.

~.~^.~

"And we got lemon and strawberry cake!" Yuuma is chattering to a mystery man in his phone.

"We _brought_ lemon and strawberry cake, Dad," Iroha says pointedly.

"…Uh-huh, and then we ate it!" Yuuma says energetically, not listening to Iroha whatsoever. "And then Len took big spoonfuls and it was awesome! …Yeah, Gumi's cooking was awesome! …And everything! …And then they're going to be a couple! YAAAAYYYYY!"

"Excuse him," Iroha mutters out of the corner of her mouth to Rin. "He's excited."

Rin giggles. "I can see that."

"When are _you_ going to marry?" Oliver asks, coming up. They're still very close, and Rin shrugs.

"Whenever I want to, I guess."

Iroha and Oliver's eyes meet each other's. _Wait until she's ready,_ Iroha mouths, and Oliver sighs and ruffles Rin's hair subconsciously. When Rin looks up at him, he grins good-naturedly at her.

"We might at least dance."

"Well, if we might at least dance, then let's dance!"

~.~^.~

To: MY-DAUGHTER-IS-GROWING-UP-WAAHHHHH-AND-SHE'S-STILL-OBSESSED-WITH-PHONES  
From: PROUD Kagamine Mother  
Subject: asjflakjvldajflkadjflasjfkjl DA WEDDING

why werent u there?! we had so much fun!

~'~'~

To: PROUD Kagamine Mother  
From: MY-DAUGHTER-IS-GROWING-UP-WAAHHHHH-AND-SHE'S-STILL-OBSESSED-WITH-PHONES  
Subject: re: asjflakjvldajflkadjflasjfkjl DA WEDDING

HERRO MRS. KAGAMINE.

THIS IS NERU.

YOUR COMPUTER IS OFFICIALLY HACKED.

~.~^.~

Mrs. Kagamine stares in dismay at the letters on her screen. But…HOW COULD THAT AKITA WOMAN'S DAUGHTER TO THAT TO HER? She was a _mother_, after all! A proud Kagamine mother who has just today witnessed her son marry someone!

_I predicted the future right. In no time Len was asking for Gumi's hand._

_OH WHY LEN?!  
_

* * *

**LOLOLOLOLOLOL CAN ANYONE GUESS THE LASC REFERENCE HERE? Oh dear Yuuma. And Iroha.**

**Faint IrohaxOliver...Oh Iroha...*pats* I hope everyone enjoyed this crazy chapter as well! XD  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	14. Twenty Two: Oliver's Getting Passionate

**TRA LA! I got you all a new chapter. I was kind of bored of writing SAWC, so I decided to take a break to write another chapter ahead of time.  
**

**Thanks to these people for reviewing- Skafe, Troubled Windchimes, InTheShadowsOfHeros, Dale Z. Larmint, KawaiiDeshuu, and Ten-Faced! I love the support all of you give~ This is far from over, so stop worrying! *hits people with Nerf bats*  
**

**Hopefully I didn't hurt anyone...  
**

**Anyway, on with the chapter!  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Twenty-Two: Oliver's Getting Passionate_

"YAHOOOOOO!" Diploma in hand, almost tripping over her black gown, Rin hurries to the restroom to change. A bunch of the other graduated students follow, and Rin is rather glad that she's a frisky one. For she gets the first (and best) stall.

Rin rips off her cap and gown, and changes quickly into something more wearable—for her, that is. It's really not much better than the graduation uniform, but at least it looks less ridiculous and formal on her. It's an airy, strapless blue dress that comes down to the knee with lacy ruffles hidden beneath the loose, carefree satin, ingeniously shaped and sewn in so that they're hidden but provide elegance when needed. There's a big blue bow that comes with it, to which Rin uses to fasten her hair. There are fingerless, lacy blue gloves that reach her elbow, too. She can put up with these formalities for just a day. After all, Rin, Miku, Gumi, Len, her family and Kaito's million relatives, and others not mentioned are going to a graduation party shortly after. Rin might as well look nice while at it.

Presently a knock sounds at the stall door. "Rin, let me see you!" floats in Gumi's excited, breathy voice, which she has apparently fixed to sound reproving, but it's not working. Her serene happiness shines through.

"Mommy, who dat?" It must be Lily.

Rosy cheeked and laughing, Rin stuffs her now-obsolete college wear into a big plastic bag. She would not need it anymore in her life—Rin is not planning to take up any more courses. Then Rin slides open the lock, and flies into Gumi's arms, her sister-in-law's flowery scent tickling her nose.

"Gumi," Rin gasps, "it's been so long!"

"We were lonesome," Gumi replies, holding up three-year-old Lily. "Come on, Lily, say hi to Auntie," she coaxes the young blonde. Lily in turn whoops in delight and grabs a handful of Rin's own blonde hair, knocking her bow askew.

"Same!" Lily says exuberantly, loosening her grip on Rin's hair and sending the strands flying into the air before slapping Rin's cheek.

"Ow!" Rin answers, giving Lily a good-natured poke to the ribs before re-fastening her bow.

After her sophomore year in college, Rin hadn't wanted to come back for the summer. Instead, she took some summer schooling—learned all there was that was required to become an elementary school teacher—and the same happened for the next summer. To convince her parents that this was great, Rin had stressed the important points in a letter back home. _After all,_ she wrote, _we're growing up. We have to be independent __some__ time in our lives, Mom._

"So where are we heading for the luncheon?" Rin asks, carrying Lily now.

"You don't even know _where_?" Gumi laughs. "That's a shame. Do you know?" she turns around and questions the mousy little girl who has been following them, listening to their every word.

"A-ah!" Rin's colleague is caught by surprise. "W-well, i-i-it's right outside…it's th-the place right next to the dorms…"

"Oh!" Gumi says. "We passed it on our way here. It's the funny-looking building that's built close to the ground and with a slanted roof, right?"

The girl nods vehemently. "Cream Soda Place. I-I guess it's because of the good cream sodas th-they serve there. I-I-I'm not sure though."

"Cream soda!" Lily tries to mimic, but she ends up sounding something like, "Cweem shota!"

Gumi smiles and pats Lily. "Don't worry, we'll be there soon," she consoles her. "Thank you for your help. Might you want to sit at our table?" she adds to the girl. Gumi has taken on a motherly aura, Rin notes, ever since she'd married Len.

The girl shakes her head vehemently. "It's alright."

~.~^.~

"Rin!" Len waves said girl over to their (almost overflowing) booth. Rin is amused to see that he's wearing close to the same hairstyle he had when he was fifteen. "Tell us about the subjects you were studying!"

"A little bit of everything," Rin says, slipping into the seat next to Len and Gumi.

"Really? What do you mean?" Rin recoils slightly at that familiar voice; it belongs to Oliver, and—

_He looks like a stranger!_

Rin can't quite recall when his olive green eyes had that beautiful, hazel sparkle in them, illuminating them every shade of reluctant yellows and shy greens possible. There's that bandage over his left eye as always; and the same wild blonde hair. He's wearing articles of clothing that look like sailors' apparel over a crisp white collared shirt and black shorts. Oliver has certainly grown; and that cocky smile on his face…

"Is that you?" Rin breathes in a high-pitched voice not suited for even herself.

Confusion crosses the sun-scoured skin on Oliver's face that comes from working day and night in the sea when he's not studying and doing college work, and then cocky understanding dawns. "You mean…?"

"I barely recognized you!"

"And who do you think I am?" Oliver asks, a bit smartly but playful nonetheless.

"You," Rin says, and Iroha, sitting across from them, rolls her eyes.

"Rin, his name is not 'You' and you know it."

"You're afraid to say my name, aren't you?" There's a good thing about Oliver: he's quite good-natured and never gets insulted easily.

"_Oliver_," in a slightly vexed, but amused, voice.

"You got it right, Rin."

"Let's order," Len interrupts, keeping the awkwardness that is sure to follow far away. He holds up a menu, showing it to his wife. "Come on, Gumi, there are about a dozen ways to make carrots on here. Take your pick."

~.~^.~

"Finishing college is great!" Rin says to Oliver as they exit Cream Soda Place, and wait for the next train. Len, Gumi, and the others are waiting too, but right now it's just Oliver and her.

"I figured as much—" A deafening whistle interrupts Oliver's sentence, and Rin laughs and grabs him.

"Train's coming!"

~.~^.~

Night falls onto the small little town with its usual quietness. The crickets chirp drowsily, but never seem to tire of it. Rin is fairly content; Oliver, having been approved by her parents, is staying for the night. The bedroom he will be in is his choice, but it's almost something that people shouldn't ask. Rin's, of course. And he's on the right side of the bed right now, with Rin sitting up reading on the left.

"Rin, are you going to sleep or not?" Oliver demands, a hand over his eyes. He never really liked to stay up later than he should.

"As soon as I finish this chapter," Rin replies. "It's sad, but it's nice and heartwarming. It's about a dog…"

"_Hachiko_?" Oliver asks.

"Geesh, Oliver, one would've thought that _Hachiko_ pissed you off too much or something."

"I'm not stupid." Oliver laughs, tugging at Rin's thin pajama top. "Come _on_, get down."

Rin sighs and closes the book. She lands with a heavy plop next to Oliver, and clicks off the light. A peaceful silence follows, and Rin looks up at the ceiling, illuminated by the moon. "We should be getting a house soon," she says softly, more to herself than Oliver. "And then…"

"Ever thought of marrying me?"

A slight gasp escapes Rin's lips as Oliver rolls over. She can feel body heat vibrating off of him, and it sort of warms her too. Soon, their clothes are lying on the floor, and he's positioned right above her, and his head is digging into her chest.

"H-hey, what are you doing?" Rin asks, blushing.

"Getting ready."

"You're cruel! Making me have a baby at such a young age," Rin proclaims with mock anguish.

"I brought a condom for this very reason."

"You wore it under your clothes?"

"Mmh, I guess? But let's talk about that later." Oliver's body slackens slightly, for a bit, and then he bites lightly onto her neck. "I don't know much of the basics of sex, but I do know that you kiss others. Desperately." His lips press against Rin's neck for a moment, and she giggles girlishly and nudges him off—it tickles. But Oliver is persistent, and soon he's spreading kisses all over her body.

"I swear, I'm tainted," Rin moans.

"You already are. Since your sexual education with Mister—what, Nobuyuki?"

"Hiyama," Rin corrects, shifting so Oliver could have a better chance at kissing the spots he desires.

And then—_it._

"Ow! Take it _out_!" Because it _hurts_. It feels kind of like how a tampon feels when it's been stuck in, but the desire in Rin has just been maximized by approximately three hundred million two thousand five hundred ninety-nine point eight nine seven five five five five. Sweat beads glisten on her arms, and her hands are damp from clenching the pillows. Oliver laughs and rears back.

Then, just as quickly they change back to their sleepwear. Rin lies on bed, faintly panting, while the deep breathing of Oliver secures her senses—they're safe. And he's sleeping.

_Why the heck is the fact that he's sleeping makes me happy?_

…But then, it _is_ her first night in bed with another boy other than Len…

Well. It wasn't that bad.

~.~^.~

Rin's startled shriek awakes Mrs. Kagamine. She bites the tip of her pencil now, and writes…

_Rin screamed "ow" in the middle of the night…_

_Wonder why is that?  
_

* * *

**Sex is the same thing as wedding for me. I've never been through it, but I've heard what it's like from countless stories and books. (I rated it M just for this chapter; I'll switch back as soon as I publish the next one.)  
**

**Thanks for reading as always!  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	15. Twenty Five Years Old: Proposal

**I like cheese. :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD I'm also sorry for this long wait...I was too dry on ideas for some time.  
**

**Thanks to these ppl for reviewing- Troubled Windchimes, rockitty99, Ten-Faced, 2lazytologin (aka Dale Z. Larmint), Sherra-Kaiki x2 because she reviewed two chapters, FluttershyParty, and DancingWithTheFaeries. ^w^  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Twenty-five Years Old: Proposal_

Rin is now a twenty-five-year-old with a steady job as a third-grade teacher. She's been bounced around a few times as a student teacher, but now finally she can stay fixed in one place. Oliver, in turn, is a computer programmer (a job which he is not particularly fond of, but has a knack for). Whenever Rin has free time, he would take her boating in a lake in a nearby village, which would be every month or two.

Boating is loved greatly by both of them: Rin views it as a way to escape all of the piles of papers she's confronted with and Oliver gets to rest his eyes by looking over at the easy, peaceful landscape.

~.~^.~

With a soft nudge of the paddles Oliver sends the canoe gliding over the smooth, rippling water. He's purchased one at a boat store just last month, and perhaps Rin could make this September's students do a project on boats. Anyhow, the watercraft is buoyant and easy to steer.

"Rin, honestly," Oliver sighs. "You've been spending the last fifteen minutes taking notes."

"It's hard not to." Far off into the distance are the outlines of purple mountains against the china blue sky. Nearer, the bank is lined with cattails and tules and trees. The distinct piney scent that's emanated from the conifers darts playfully about, carried by a gentle breeze. That breeze in turn whips the water, making tasteful patterns on the lake's surface. It's an entirely different view than that of the dried wild rice stalks that grow in large clumps or the muddy water canals and rivers, near the railroad station, of Rin's hometown.

"Once you look at this, you think about how much in life you've missed."

"Not me," Oliver says emphatically, leaning down to muss up Rin's hair in a gesture of affection. "For me it's all out there, waiting. And someday I'm going to become a sailor."

"You know, you sound like one of my kids when you say that."

"You…have_ kids_?"

"Sure. Students. I call them my kids." Rin smirks when she sees the shock in Oliver's face slowly dissolve into relief. "There was this little dude called Ryuto in the class I taught, who says he has a crush on a little girl named Yuki Hiyama, also in my class. Anyway, he wanted to be a sailor."

"That was last year, right? So now they're rising into fourth grade."

"Yup." Rin reaches down and uses her index finger to stir up a little pattern on the water; the water is pleasingly cool and inviting. "Shoot, I wish I brought my swimsuit."

Oliver stops paddling to let the canoe glide on its own. "Yeah. But there's always a store nearby."

~.~^.~

"You know," says Oliver in a low voice after taking one look at the swimsuits on the racks, "I'd want to let these be. I mean, even my fashion-impaired eyes find these weird." There are swimsuits with crazy colors that simply look like fabric thrown together, or swimsuits so limp and loose that one can't find it to fit anyone's body, but mostly there are purposely tight swimsuits, especially around the chest.

"It's here for a reason." With that, Rin plucks a swimsuit off of the racks, which is small and petite and has the words "Baby Doll" in big hot pink letters across the chest.

Just looking at it makes Oliver sick with revolt, and Rin smirks a second time before sliding it back onto the racks. "Suit yourself. I'll be in the next door," Oliver says weakly and backs away.

"Hey, isn't the next door a jewelry store?" Rin calls.

"Yeah, it is!"

~.~^.~

The recorded, grainy sound of Rin and Len's voices both reciting the first thousand numbers of Pi blasts out of Rin's phone—it's her ringtone. Rin takes up the call and presses the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Is it okay if Gumi and I join you at the lake?" Len asks.

"When?"

"Any time."

"We're not _at_ the lake," Rin tells him.

"Whatever. Fine. We'll arrive at one in the afternoon, and we'll bring lunch if you haven't had it already. Wait, Rin, you're not _abducted_, right?" Len's voice takes on a worried note.

"No. I'm in a swimsuit shop."

"…A swimsuit shop. Alright. I'll go and try to find it. Take care, okay?" Then Len hangs up.

~.~^.~

"W-what are you doing?" Oliver looks like a little boy caught in the movement of wrongdoing. A light blush dusts his cheeks, riling up Rin's curiosity. He appears to be hiding something behind his back.

"What are _you_ doing?" Rin responds, trying to get a peek of what that is.

"_Something_." Oliver shakes his head, looking really nervous but excited. It's kind of Len's expression when he's about to be confronted with a huge audience. "L…let's go outside, okay? Because the outside is awesome and there's fresh air. Come on, let's go outside." Oliver grabs Rin's arm and pulls her outside.

_This is probably good,_ Rin thinks once outside. _Oliver is never nervous…._

"Uh, would you….?" Oliver blurts, hands still firmly clenched behind his back.

"Would I…?"

"Uh-you-see-we've-been-together-for-so-long-and-wereeeeeeallyloveeachother-so-I-was-wondering-ifyoucouldmarryme?" Oliver says in a rushed voice.

"Sorry?" Rin has to make sure she hasn't heard wrong. Marry him? _Marry_ him?

"_Marry_ me!" Oliver says, his cheeks flaring red. Rin hasn't ever seen Oliver look so shy before. He hands over a velvety blue box, one of those that fit the ring.

Rin accepts it carefully. "So…this is an engagement ring, right?"

"Yeah." Oliver looks slightly relieved now that Rin knows what he's talking about. "So, will you marry me?"

"I'll be Mrs. Hibiki if I do, right?" Rin runs a hand over the box, not wishing to open it yet, feeling anticipation tear at her chest. Her heart thrums hard over her ribs. It would be making an important life decision….

"Yeah, you will."

"Then…maybe I wo—"

"_Rin_!"

Rin finally opens the box and there sits a simple platinum band. She glances up at Oliver's face, and with a lightning quick motion Rin slips the band onto her finger. "This is kind of backward, but sure."

"_I_ was supposed to put on the ring." Even as he says that, Oliver relaxes a bit, and soon they're both grinning like idiots. "Rulebreaker Kagamines."

"That's right, I'm Number One Rulebreaker and Len is Number Two. Anyway, it's almost one in the afternoon and we're supposed to be in the swimsuit shop. So move it." Rin gets behind Oliver and tries to push him, but it's like pushing solid rock; Oliver is much stronger than Rin and just stays there, still grinning. "_Seriously_, Oliver!"

"Do you think Len will bring some olives for me?"

"And oranges for me too. Now hurry _up_, Oliver." Just then Len and Gumi arrive, and the sunlight glinting off of Rin's engagement ring is just enough for the already-married couple's eyes to catch.

"Did you see that?" Gumi asks Len, still buckled by her seat belt in the car. She's smiling. "Rin's getting a wedding!"

Six-year-old Lily perks up. "Wedding!" she echoes.

"She can be the flower girl," jokes Len, and Gumi elbows him, laughing.

"You idiot!" But not without a trace of affection in her voice.

~.~^.~

"Mom, look at this!" Rin puts her fist in her mother's face, who steps back, utterly bemused.

"Y-you've grown some hand muscles over the summer, Rin?"

"_No_! My finger!"

"I-is there something—OH MY GOSH RIN ARE YOU MARRYING OLIVER?"

All the while Len has found Mrs. Kagamine's diary. Out of curiosity, he picks it up and flips through the pages, either blushing or trying hard not to smile. Then he notices a pen on the table, and writes in a new page…

_Cool diary entries, Mom.  
_

* * *

**I feel like a total fail at their personalities. Q~Q But this is what happens when you begin something like this in the middle of the night and then you finish it while you're really hungry... ;A; Anyway, I have to do the wedding scene all over again, this time for Rin. But this time, it'll be different, so don't worry...  
**

**Also, who do you think Yuki is the kid of? ;) _Certainly_ not the notorious Kiyoteru of Rin's good old sexual education days, with Meiko?  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	16. Twenty-Five Years Old: Canceled?

**First of all, don't be fooled by the chapter title. This story isn't canceled._  
_**

**Thanks to the following reviewers rockitty99, KawaiiStargazer, Fmafan4life, Troubled Windchimes, west (on your request, I have moved this to the "any pairing" category), and Ten-Faced. Still love all of you! Thank you for the almost-100 reviews! :3  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;_

_Twenty-five Years Old: Canceled?_

"What do you mean, she's sick?" Gumi demands upon the arrival of news that Mrs. Kagamine is not available to plan Rin's and Oliver's wedding, that she has contracted a serious version of pneumonia. A wave of fear grips her heart. "Is the sickness hard to fight?"

Iana shakes her head, a sly smile sliding onto her face. She relights her cigarette. "Very."

"Quit smiling like that!" Gumi leans forward and grabs Iana's slim shoulders, giving her a hard shake. Iana's upper lip curls back in a sneer.

"Do you think I _want_ Rin's mommy to die?"

"You're acting like it," comments Miku, who is punching numbers into her phone. "I'm calling the hospital."

Gumi and Len have moved out of Len's mother's home; they're now in a seaside cottage. The soft murmur of the sea waves pounds the steeply sloping green hill whose base was drowned in sea water, whose top is the pretty cottage in which Gumi and Len reside in. Today, however, the sea's sound does little to soothe Gumi's troubled feelings. She bites her cuticles anxiously. "Does that mean that Rin won't get a wedding?"

"She can still sign legal papers to show that she's married," Miku says.

"It's not the same as having a wedding, though." Len picks up a magazine that's been discarded by Iana (who had flipped through it earlier) and runs his hand over the glossy cover. "Like them." There's a bride with a white veil over her face, and she's laughing happily as her arm is linked with the apparent groom.

"Like _us_," Gumi says, taking the photo album beneath Len's chair and turning the fragile plastic pages.

"Hmmmph." Iana leans back onto the couch, and Lily, sitting on her mother's lap, looks at the silver-haired young woman with curiosity. Iana wraps a finger around the chain that connects her metal choker with her metal bracelet. "Why're you making a big deal out of a stupid wedding? Let it slide."

"'_Let it slide'_ is not something we go by," Gumi snaps. "Thank you, Iana."

~.~^.~

Rin slams the door of her car, hopping out with the same agile grace that made her the star of the track team in high school. She ignores the calls of Len, Gumi, and Oliver: a single goal is fixed firmly in her head. _Mom. Stupid pneumonia… _

"Rin Kagamine, daughter of Ann Kagamine," she says breathlessly to the nurse at the counter, then ignoring everyone she sprints up the stairs, knowing already which room her mother is in.

It's one of the ER rooms, and when Rin bursts in, her mother is linked by several tubes, coughing up phlegm at various intervals. Her father is kneeling beside her mother, but by the grim look on his face, she wasn't getting better. Mr. Kagamine doesn't even notice his daughter standing in shock at the edge of the room. It's only when Len, Gumi, Lily, and Oliver come in that he finally looks up, due to Lily asking Gumi why her grandmother was like this.

"Mom is only forty-five, is she?" Len says, taking a seat next to Mr. Kagamine.

"Maybe even younger than that. It's not her forty-fifth birthday yet." A shuddering gasp lifts out of Mrs. Kagamine's chest, and the lines on Mr. Kagamine's face stretch and tighten even more.

"You should get some rest," Gumi says gently to her father-in-law.

"Everyone tells me that. But I'm not about to leave my wife when she needs me."

"Grandmommy, I brought you thome flowerth!" Lily lisps, having lost her first front tooth. She shoves some daisies in Mrs. Kagamine's face, but Mrs. Kagamine doesn't do as much as stir. A childish frown drifts across Lily's face: she can tell something is wrong too. "Grandmommy?"

"Grandmommy is sick right now," Gumi tells her daughter quietly, prying Lily's arms away from Mrs. Kagamine. "Shh, Lily," she adds sternly as Lily bites her lip, going through the process of threatening to cry.

~.~^.~

Somewhere around three in the morning Mrs. Kagamine wakes for the last time. Mr. Kagamine, Rin, Len, Gumi, and Oliver are still there. Lily is sleeping in the children's nursery, and Gumi has made sure that she's not going to go missing.

"Rin?" she croaks upon seeing Rin's face peering anxiously at her.

"Mom!" Worries lift from Rin's face. "Are you alright?"

Mrs. Kagamine makes a subtle movement with her shoulders that indicates something between yes and no. "There's not much time left."

"Ann!" Mr. Kagamine protests. "How could you say that?"

"It's just as they say. I could feel that my life is drawing to a close—" Mrs. Kagamine coughs, and Len pats her back. "I could feel that my life is drawing to a close," Mrs. Kagamine repeats, "because of certain signs such as a weakness there and my trouble breathing."

"It's your pneumonia," Len says, obviously alarmed.

"It's not. It's different."

"Well, we can get the doctor over to check—"

"Thank you, but nothing is going to help me now." Mrs. Kagamine looks at her husband and, with some difficulty, smiles. "I remember first seeing you in college. You looked perfect to me. When you proposed I immediately agreed. And see how far we've gotten in life! Look how we've watched our children grow up! It's a success, isn't it?"

"Ann, this is—"

"Rin," Mrs. Kagamine continues, ignoring Mr. Kagamine, "look at yourself! From the time you first discovered puberty by a brochure and to now, look how much you've grown. I'm sorry I won't be there for your wedding, but Gumi or Luka could certainly be your matron-of-honor. And Len! You've grown from a little boy to a man now, haven't you? You're married and you have Gumi and Lily."

"Ann!" Mr. Kagamine cuts in. "Please!"

"Please, what?" Mrs. Kagamine breaks into a soft sort of hysterical laughter. "Please, _what_? I have seen it! I have seen it all! What is there to ask for me of, with _please_? I'm satisfied with what has happened."

"This much laughing is not good for your body, Mother," Gumi tries to say, but Mrs. Kagamine interrupts her too.

"Before I depart, Rin, I'd like you to take over my old diary. It's in my desk. I've been writing in it for, what? Seventeen years now? You'll find some old diary entries in there, when I've still been such a protective mother. I've been using email more often, but you can get into my email account as well. In any case, I want you to log your entries into that diary."

"Yes, Mom," Rin whispers.

"As for you, Len, go get my entire box of ribbons and decorate yourself with it—whatever, just do anything with it!"

"Y-yes," Len stammers. _Weird will._

"Gumi, see that he uses the ribbons with a good spirit and make sure that he will _never_ throw them away! I know my Lenny and his nature. Be a good wife, you hear? You can use the ribbons as well, for sewing and such that. You can even try to stick him in a dress with my ribbons." Gumi nods.

"And my husband, the only thing I ask of you is to join my happily in your own days!"

Mr. Kagamine is very upset. "You aren't dying!"

"What makes you say that?" Mrs. Kagamine smiles again, this time with a sadder edge to it, and leans back in her pillow. "I've come from a long line of sickly descendants, but Rin and Len have both inherited the Shetland-pony-like strength from you." She coughs again, but would let nobody help her, and they watched as she faded away.

~.~^.~

Months later does Rin finally climb up the stairs to her mother's room again. It has a musty smell, as nobody had visited it for almost half a year. Her wedding had been postponed, and set at a later date (the priest was not happy). There wasn't much liveliness there as there was in Len's and Gumi's, because they were still in mourning mode. It was simply Rin and Oliver exchanging vows and a wedding ring, and some cake. They had moved out like Len and Gumi, but they visit often, for Mr. Kagamine is often lonely. He had brought in some pets and let Rin and Len name them—the cats were promptly known as Orangi and Banana, and the dog was Roda-Rolla.

Now, as Rin turns the yellowed pages of her mother's diary, some tears involuntarily fall. She smiles briefly as she flips through many entries that include Mrs. Kagamine's dismay at Rin and Len's growing up.

Finally, though to her reluctance, she picks up the pen and begins to write.

_Sunday_

Once she finishes putting the "y" in Sunday, the words come freely.

_From here on, I will be addressing this diary as "Mom" because I like the idea that you, Mom, are a ghost hovering near me and reading everything I write on this diary._

_I'll definitely be putting much more stuff in my entries than yours, Mom. This is going to be clichéd, but I miss you. We all do. It brings back fresh nostalgia to see such old diary entries in here. I suck at writing, even though I teach at an elementary school, but I'll give it a shot._

_Well, first of all I can't find the right words for the news I'm going to deliver next. I'm pregnant…with twins! Like you, Mom, when you had me and Len. We got an ultrasound scan and it turned out that one was a girl and one was a boy. Oliver and I have already decided on the names—Ring for the girl, Lui for the boy. I only wish you were there. Len and Gumi and Lily were. She's almost seven now._

_Anyway, Dad is calling and Roda-Rolla is barking and making a fuss. I think it's because the doorbell just rang. I have to go answer it._

Rin tucks the diary safely in the pocket of her blouse, and hurries downstairs.

* * *

**Anyone catch my awesome "For Luka neechan" reference?**

**Goofing aside, I am (again) sorry that I took so long to finish another chapter. I've been low on inspiration lately, but it's a comfort to me that you guys still love me :3. Even for my lateness.  
**

**For some reason, it's just easier to write longer chapters for this than Secrets and Whispered Confessions. I guess I'm better at this genre.  
**

**Read and review~!  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


	17. Epilogue: Ring and Lui are Born

**Whoa, last chapter already. That was quick.  
**

**Thanks to these reviewers- Sherra-Kaiki, Ten-Faced, Troubled Windchimes, rockitty99, Nerumi H, and delcatty546.  
**

* * *

_Bras, Tampons, and Other Enticing Things;  
_

_Epilogue: Ring and Lui are Born_

The birth is more painful than Rin thought. It is mainly painful because she doesn't know what to expect, and her body is tense. It's this sort of situation that she wishes her mother were here. A dull ache thumps on Rin's lower back. Her muscles are tightened, although the nurse told her to keep relaxed. _How could I?_ Rin thinks in panic. Len and Gumi are on their way, but she's not sure if they'll make it in time for the double birthing. _Hurry up, just come out,_ she begs silently.

Rin had just realized at midnight that Ring and Lui were going to be born any second then, so she hurried to the hospital to the emergency room. Oliver was away on some business—he said he'd be back by morning—but Rin couldn't afford to wait and left a voice mail on his cell phone. Oliver had responded immediately, and Rin was glad of it, and said he'd be back as soon as he could.

The chances are rather dim.

The first rays of light peek over the horizon—two-thirty in the morning—but Ring and Lui are still reluctant on coming out.

Rin's backache intensifies, and so does a headache. The doctor comes in leisurely and places a hand on Rin's bare stomach before saying calmly, "There will be about thirty minutes until the twins will come out."

"I feel sick," Rin replies hoarsely.

"That's natural. There's a bucket right next to the bed where you can, you know…," pointing at the blue bucket residing next to the hospital cot. "Take a few deep breaths. We have some books if you want to keep your mind off of the labor."

"Thank you." Rin takes a book from the stack the doctor is holding out and flips it open.

The story is of a girl and boy growing up with an overprotective mother. Tears fill Rin's eyes without her knowing it as she is reminded of her own childhood. Reading the book, she's lost in the realistic fiction world, and twenty-five minutes pass before Rin realizes that she has to go to the bathroom. The pressure on her bladder is rather great, especially since she's carrying two lives within her own.

"The babies will come soon," the doctor tells her. "It might be better if you don't get up right now."

Rin nods, but the inside her is panicking again.

~.~^.~

_They're coming._ She tries to suppress her growing excitement, but it seems to spurt out of her.

The doctor knows this too. "Mrs.—er…"

"Hibiki," Rin corrects.

"Yes, Hibiki. Please keep still." The doctor pulls the sheets aside and lays a hand on Rin's stomach again, this time with more pressure. "I don't think you have to go through the cesarean procedure."

Rin is quite a bit relieved at that, because she isn't looking forward to having her abdomen cut open by a knife. Still, it hurts, and she wonders just how long it would take Len, Oliver, and Gumi to arrive. The spasms she's just been experiencing have been gradually increasing intensity, and it is extremely uncomfortable. _Is this how Mom felt when she was birthing us? _Rin wonders. _I am _never_ going to do this again._

It's almost three.

Rin suddenly remembers her mother's death almost a year ago…maybe even more than that. Isn't around three the time she died?

_How things connect each other…_

For some reason, now, Rin knows that Ring and Lui are coming now.

"Make it quick," she pleads the doctor.

~.~^.~

It wasn't as bad as she thought. Her vagina is sore, perhaps even bloody, but Ring and Lui are in her arms. Rin finds herself panting in relief that it is over.

A phone rings. "It's for you," the doctor tells Rin, holding it out to her.

Rin presses the phone against her ear. "Hi, what?" she asks, knowing already who they are.

"Rin! Are they out yet?" Gumi asks breathlessly. "Never mind, I can't wait to see them! Ring and Lui, I mean. Len, Oliver, Miku, and I are going to pick you up from the hospital, okay? Miku's practically beside herself, she's spazzing. Your dad is too. But he has to take care of Orangi and Banana and Roda-Rolla, so he can't come. Anyway, I hope you're okay! It's rough, but you'll be glad you did it later!" Gumi finishes in one breath, and hangs up.

Rin hangs up as well, laughing quietly to herself. In the east, against the sun's rays, she can almost see her mother gazing affectionately at her.

"We have a whole lifetime ahead of us," she tells Ring and Lui. "I'm proud to be your mommy."

* * *

**WAAAHHH, STORY COMES TO AN END!**

**So I did a bunch of researching for this chapter because I didn't know enough about birthing to save my life. I got a whole Wikipedia article, which wasn't too helpful, and a welcomebabyhome page, which was very helpful indeed.  
**

**I'm not going to do a whole thankyou ceremony like I did with Lemon and Strawberry Cake, but whoa. Thank you for all these reviews. I believe I did pretty well with the ending this time. Although "I'm proud to be your mommy" is kind of like... I might change that line later.  
**

**Off to brainstorm next chapter of Secrets and Whispered Confessions...  
**

**Thank you for sticking with me and reading and reviewing and everything~  
**

**~Unyielding Wish  
**


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